East of Nowhere
by GrandOldPenguin
Summary: Traveling together to California, Skipper and Marlene are abruptly thrust into the Colorado wilderness. Together, they'll have to rely on the bond between them as they face the unknown and all its challenges.
1. For the Longest Time

The voice on the phone was familiar.

"Mom?" Marlene asked as she held the phone to her ear.

"Yes, sweetie, it's really me," Marlene's mother, Lynne, replied.

"I can't believe it's you, after all these years," Marlene responded tearfully. "I thought I'd never get to hear your voice again after you and Dad were transferred away. Where ever did you go for so long?"

"We were never kept in one place for very long," Lynne answered. "We kept being shipped from zoo to zoo, aquarium to aquarium, sanctuary to sanctuary. At each new habitat we arrived at, your father and I kept holding out hope that maybe you somehow managed to get transferred there yourself so that we might finally reunite, but our dream never came true. We eventually figured that you just never left Monterey, so we were quite saddened when we arrived back to learn that you–"

"Wait, you and Dad are back in–" Marlene broke-in.

"Yes, sweetie, we're back in California," Lynne replied. "After all of our transfers around the United States and Canada, we've finally made it back home again. Evidently this may also be our last transfer; I overheard one of the zookeepers saying that they're thinking about finally letting us retire."

"I've got to come out to see you," Marlene then stated. "Just give me a few days to prepare and–"

Lynne chuckled.

"Child, you just can't leave the zoo," she said.

"No, I can – I've done it before," Marlene replied. "I know these guys – they're the greatest."

"Marlene, we desperately would like to see you again, too," Lynne continued. "But we're close to 3,000 miles apart. It was a miracle that we were even able to find out where you had gone through the grapevine and then get a call out to you."

"Mom, I love you, and I'm not going to let you slip away," Marlene replied. "I _will_ come see you; I have to."

Lynne smiled.

"You were always determined ever since you were a pup," she said. "If coming here is something you must do, then Godspeed to you, Marlene."

"I'll be there as soon as possible," Marlene said. "Give Dad a hug for me, OK?"

"Will do," Lynne replied. "Take care of yourself and stay safe. Goodbye, honey."

"Bye, Mom," Marlene said, hanging up the phone.

And with that, the conversation Marlene had only dreamed of having was over in what seemed like a blink of an eye. Two minutes just wasn't long enough to even try to catch up on the past 12 years.

Marlene leaned against the wall of her cave for a few moments as she tried to process what had just occurred. She wanted to be certain that she wasn't having a dream after all.

Minutes later, Marlene left her habitat and strolled over to the penguins' HQ. Upon arrival, she moved the penguins' fish bowl out of the way and descended the ladder to enter the base, unannounced as always.

"Guys, I need to get to California," she said, no sooner than her feet had made contact with the floor.

"Sure thing, Marlene," Skipper replied as he looked up from playing chess with Private. "And while I'm at it, do you take your coffee with cream or do you prefer it black?"

"Huh?" Marlene wondered.

"Well, I just figured that if we're here to serve your every whim, you know, why not throw in a cup of java?" Skipper replied.

"Skipper, this isn't just some ordinary request," Marlene continued as she walked up to him at the table. "I just got a phone call from my long-lost mother, whom I haven't heard from since she and my father were transferred away from me at my old aquarium in California. That was 12 years ago. They've finally made it back to Monterey, and I told my mother that I would come out to see them. Please help me – I really miss my family."

Skipper moved a bishop two places and then sighed.

"You know what, Marlene? I completely understand why you want to go out to California," he replied. "I think the boys and I can all relate to you; we've all been separated from our biological families at one time or another, too. I've said in the past that I don't have a sister, but since I haven't seen my parents since '93, who knows if that's even true anymore?"

"So you'll help me?" Marlene asked.

"Indeed," Skipper replied. "I think I know just the way to get us to California."

"_Us?_" Marlene wondered.

Skipper smiled.

"Hey, Kowalski, take over for me, will you?" he called over to his first lieutenant as he stood up and motioned toward the chess board. "As for you, Marlene, come with me."

As Kowalski waddled over to continue the game with Private, Skipper led Marlene over to the wall of the HQ which Private's first prize fish was proudly displayed on. Skipper then grabbed the trophy fish's dorsal fin and pulled it toward himself. A panel of the floor then dropped out below their feet, sending Skipper and Marlene sliding into a secret underground room – though Skipper preferred to call it a _hangar_.

There, Marlene's eyes widened.

"Feast your eyes on this baby," Skipper then said as he placed a flipper on the only object in the room besides him and Marlene. "This magnificent aircraft is a hybrid of modern engineering and the technology that won us the Second World War. We started with the basic body design of the classic Vought F4U Corsair, but reconfigured and widened the cockpit to now accommodate two, side-by-side. Along with a few other tweaks and modifications, many of them classified."

"Impressive," Marlene said as she looked at her reflection in the plane's shiny blue paint and began to touch it.

"Hold it, Marlene," Skipper said as he suddenly reached out and held Marlene's paw back. "I don't want any prints on the finish."

"You're kidding me, right?" Marlene replied sarcastically as she brought her paw back down to her side.

"Anyway," Skipper continued, "as you can probably tell, our plane is substantially smaller than the original Corsair. Not that I couldn't fly the 33-foot, 2,000-horsepower model, I might add. But our penguin-sized edition is small enough to both slip past most radar _and_ keep the FAA off our backs."

He then smiled and looked at Marlene.

"Flying 10 hours a day, I'd estimate it would take me around three days to fly you to California," he said. "That is if you don't mind having some extra baggage along for the ride."

"No, I don't mind," Marlene replied. "I mean, that sounds wonderful. You'd really do all this just for me?"

"Well, that and we've been meaning to give the plane its first test flight," Skipper replied.

"Say _what?_" Marlene exclaimed.

"I'm only kidding," Skipper chuckled. "We've already used Rico for a test pilot. And between you and me, he was actually a bit disappointed that the plane _didn't_ crash. He mumbled something about the 'Crash Test Dummy Credo,' but I didn't ask."

"Well, Skipper, I can't thank you enough for this wonderful opportunity," Marlene continued. "When do we leave?"

"How about tomorrow morning?" Skipper suggested. "Unless you need more time to pack your lip gloss and all that stuff."

"I don't wear–" Marlene began.

"I know, and you don't need it, either," Skipper chuckled. "Forgive my ill attempt at humor. So anyway, is tomorrow morning at 0700 hours good for you, Marlene?"

"I'll be here," Marlene answered.

"Excellent," Skipper replied. "Tomorrow we fly."

* * *

Thank you for reading the first chapter of "East of Nowhere." I hope you enjoyed it and will return to read my story all the way through. The major action will begin in Chapter 3 – trust me.

As is typical when I write multi-chapter stories, I am publishing subsequent chapters on a scheduled basis. There are nine chapters remaining, and I will be publishing a new one **every two days** until the story is complete.

To assist you with being able to follow my story, these are the dates on which I will publish new chapters: **March 3**, **March 5**, **March 7**, **March 9**, **March 11**, **March 13**, **March 15**, **March 17**, and **March 19**. I am a man of my word – I will publish new chapters on those dates without fail, with technical difficulties the only possible exception.

Thank you again,  
-_GrandOldPenguin  
_Tuesday, March 1, 2011


	2. Taking Flight

Just before 7 a.m. the next morning, Marlene entered the penguins' HQ carrying her modestly packed luggage. She placed the single bag down and then walked over to where the four penguins were gathered around the television screen.

"Hey, guys, what's on the tube?" she asked cheerfully.

"Ground control," Skipper replied.

"And not the 1998 movie starring Kiefer Sutherland, this is the real deal," Kowalski explained. "I had to work through the night to complete everything in time, but you're looking at a state-of-the-art air traffic control system which will keep tabs on you and Skipper as you travel westward. At least as state-of-the-art as you can get using a standard-definition TV screen, parts from a blender, and random junk from Rico's stomach."

Rico then gave off a loud belch.

"Excuse me," he whispered in apology.

"Anyway, this blinking dot over here shows the present location of _Air Force Penguin_," Kowalski said as he pointed to a blinking red dot on the screen, which was displaying a map of the contiguous United States. "The smaller green dots on the map indicate scheduled refueling stops, the yellow squares represent overnight stopovers, and the blue dot marks your final destination on the Left Coast."

"Impressive," Marlene commented.

"It sure is," Skipper agreed. "In addition to tracking our progress, Kowalski's system will also transmit data back and fourth between us and the HQ so that we can better judge how long it will take to reach each stop along the way. We'll also be in regular radio contact."

"Every two hours," Kowalski said as he glanced up at the clock. "That would make our first communication at 0900 if you left right about now."

"And I think we should," Skipper replied. "In the words of Jerry Reed, we've got a long way to go and a short time to get there."

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you in a while, then," Kowalski said as he stuck out a flipper. "Three days down, three days back, and eight days out in California. It's going to be so strange not to see you for two whole weeks."

"It won't be so bad," Skipper replied as he shook Kowalski's flipper goodbye. "Just make sure you guys polish off my share of fish – I don't want Alice getting suspicious."

"Fish!" Rico exclaimed.

"Somehow, I don't expect that to be a problem," Kowalski smiled.

"Here, Skipper, take this with you," Private then said as he approached Skipper with a cardboard box.

"Your jumbo box of Peanut Butter Winkies?" Skipper said. "Are you sure, soldier?"

"You and Marlene are bound to need a snack sometime over Jersey," Private responded. "Besides, it's not like I don't already have another dozen or so stashed around the HQ."

"Thanks, Private," Skipper replied.

"Goodbye, everyone," Marlene then said to her friends. "Keep a look out for my postcards in the mail. And I'll be sure to bring you all back something special from the Monterey Bay Aquarium gift shop when we get back."

"Fish?" Rico wondered.

"Sorry, Rico, I doubt I'll be bringing any fish back," Marlene replied. "Except for what's bought to feed other animals, aquariums usually like to keep their fish collections, well, alive."

"Oh," Rico sighed.

Skipper then politely cleared his throat.

"Come on, Marlene," he said as he glanced at the clock. "Time waits for no man. Or woman."

And with that, Marlene went over to retrieve her luggage while Skipper grabbed his own. He then led Marlene over to the wall where Private's trophy fish was hung, pulled on its dorsal fin, and once again slid with her into the adjacent underground hangar.

"You know, some stairs would be nice," Marlene said as she then stood up from the slide and dusted herself off. "Just saying."

"You're absolutely right, Marlene," Skipper replied. "When I retire in, say, 50 years or so, it'll be a great project to work on. Until then, however, I'm just too busy saving the world from tyrants, despots, and about half of Kowalski's inventions."

The two then walked up to the airplane, carrying their luggage with them. After he climbed through the cockpit to place his own bag and the box of Peanut Butter Winkies into the small storage area behind the seats, Skipper did the same with Marlene's bag before taking a seat behind the controls. Meanwhile, Marlene continued to remain outside the plane.

"Final boarding call, Marlene," Skipper soon called over to her as he buckled his seatbelt. "What's the holdup?"

"Well, don't I have to walk through a metal detector or something before I get on?" she asked. "You know, in case I'm trying to smuggle weapons aboard?"

Skipper chuckled.

"Marlene, if we didn't allow weapons, Rico could never fly," he said. "Security like that just isn't necessary here because this is a private aircraft and I'm the pilot. Besides, with all due respect, you don't really strike me as the hijacking type."

"I suppose not," Marlene agreed as she then climbed into her side of the plane. "Especially since I've never even been on an airplane before."

"Not true, Marlene," Skipper replied. "You were once briefly on the top wing of the biplane I flew after you had gone wild in Central Park."

"Thanks for bringing that up again," Marlene responded sarcastically. "Correction: I've never been _in_ an airplane before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Skipper said as he then turned the key to start the plane's single engine. "Oh, that's a beautiful sound."

He then reached down for the microphone on the radio.

"Kowalski, are we cleared for takeoff?" he asked.

"No humans in sight – you are golden," Kowalski replied. "I'm opening up the hangar door for you right now."

And with Kowalski's push of a button hidden in an undisclosed location, the wall directly in front of the airplane then sunk down, revealing a short inclined tunnel through which the northwest sector of the zoo could be seen.

"Thank you, Kowalski," Skipper replied before placing the microphone back down. "All right, Marlene, please fasten your seatbelt. We'll be in the air in less than a minute."

Marlene then secured her buckle as Skipper taxied the airplane through the tunnel. Once out of it, Skipper accelerated straight down the makeshift runway until just before he came to the kangaroo habitat, where he then pulled back on the yoke and lifted the plane up into the air. Some of the wind generated by the takeoff had the unintended consequence of blowing apart one of Joey's hay bales.

"You owe me a new haystack, mister!" the temperamental marsupial shouted at the rising airplane. "Go on and fly somewhere else, you yappy dingo!"

As Skipper continued the ascent into the sky, Marlene looked down below at the streets full of cars that kept getting smaller and smaller.

"Everything looks so small from up here," she commented.

"And things will keep getting smaller in appearance until we reach cruising altitude," Skipper replied.

"How high is that?" Marlene wondered.

"Just a little under three miles," Skipper replied. "But that's nothing compared to commercial aircraft, which regularly double that."

As the climb continued, Marlene began to feel a little uneasy. She ceased looking at objects and structures on the ground and instead placed her paws together and twiddled her digits about nervously.

"Hey, Skipper, you remember how I told you I hadn't been in an airplane before?" she soon said. "Well, there's something else I should probably mention to you: I'm completely afraid of flying."

"And you're just mentioning this now?" Skipper replied sarcastically. "Did you think you were getting on a train, sister? Did you miss that big propeller on the front?"

"Skipper, please," Marlene said nervously.

"Relax, Marlene," Skipper turned to her and smiled warmly as he patted her on the shoulder. "There's nothing to fear about being up in the wild blue yonder. You're safe with me."

As Skipper then piloted over the Hudson River about to fly into New Jersey airspace, he took notice to a particular location on the river.

"Hey, this is the spot where Sully put down that Airbus," he commented.

"What?" Marlene asked.

"Back two years ago, there was this US Airways flight from LaGuardia to Charlotte," Skipper replied. "Shortly after takeoff, both of the plane's engines lost power due to striking geese, but the pilot was able to skillfully land his plane in the Hudson River, saving all 155 aboard."

"Well, that's good," Marlene said of the pilot's heroism. "But that story's not really helping my fear of flying any."

"Oh, sorry," Skipper apologized. "Well, what exactly is it that makes you nervous? Is it because there's a flightless bird behind the yoke at 15,000 feet?"

"No, Skipper, I trust _you_," Marlene replied. "I just don't trust the plane."

"Marlene, this aircraft is nothing more than a machine at the control of my flippertips," Skipper responded. "It was painstakingly constructed by my team over the course of months, with much of that time going to checking and rechecking Kowalski's math to ensure he didn't forget to carry any more digits. To trust me, you have to trust the plane."

A thought then entered Skipper's mind. He peaked over at Marlene to make sure she was still wearing her seatbelt.

"Marlene, you've heard of the Blue Angels, right?" he asked.

"Sorry, Skipper, I don't know anything about motorcycles," she replied.

"Wrong club," Skipper chuckled. "The Blue Angels are the U.S. Navy's aerobatic flight demonstration team. I've watched their material. They're quite impressive, but I can do better. Take this move for instance."

Skipper then pushed the throttle forward to increase speed and then rolled the plane to fly upside down.

"Skipper! Are you crazy?" Marlene exclaimed as her eyes widened. "Turn this thing around right now!"

"Your wish is my command," Skipper smiled as he then executed a barrel roll maneuver, rolling the plane over and over and over.

"Not that way!" Marlene screamed repetitively as Skipper rolled a total of five times at around 250 miles per hour before finally leveling out and flying straight again.

"Skipper, you are psychotic!" she shouted.

"No, _this_ is psychotic," Skipper replied as he placed the plane into a nosedive. "You remember my corkscrew move, don't you?"

"Don't you dare!" Marlene begged.

"Dare I do," Skipper responded, twisting the plane in a vertical barrel roll as it sped downward at more than 300 miles per hour.

Two thousand feet above the ground, Skipper pulled the plane back up and then preformed an inside loop, followed by an outside one.

"Hey, Marlene, wanna go back and strafe Ring-tail's place a little?" he asked as he completed the second loop.

"What?" her eyes nearly popped out.

"OK, I was only kidding on that one," Skipper replied as he leveled out the plane and finally ceased flying stunt maneuvers.

"You! You! You!" Marlene panted as she pointed at Skipper, trying to regain her breath.

"Marlene, use your indoor voice," Skipper smiled. "Come on now, you know I would never hurt you or put you in danger."

"_You wouldn't put me in danger?_" Marlene questioned. "Then what do you call flipping me through the air like you had a death wish?"

"Initiation," Skipper replied. "And a little bit of immersion therapy. You see, now you won't be afraid of flying anymore now that you know what this plane is capable of."

"Well, I suppose that's true," Marlene agreed, regaining her usual composure.

"You see, there's a method to my madness," Skipper smiled. "Besides, you know you liked it."

"I did not!" Marlene objected.

Skipper shot Marlene a look that suggested "Oh, please, come on now."

"Well, maybe just a little," Marlene smiled.

"That's good enough for me," Skipper replied, giving Marlene a quick pat on the back. "Co-pilot."


	3. Wing and a Prayer

After around two hours of flight, it was time for Skipper and Marlene's first scheduled stop for refueling and safety inspection. At a small gas station in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Skipper brought _Air Force Penguin_ to a careful landing on top of the canopy which stood above the rows of pumps.

"OK, Marlene, here's the plan," Skipper said as he turned the engine off. "On the outside of this plane near the back is a compartment which contains a 25-foot-long hose. The hose is attached to a pump system which will allow us to refuel our tanks right from the nozzle of one of the gas pumps below. Do you copy me so far?"

"Yup," Marlene responded.

"Good," Skipper said. "Now I will be using the hose to lower you down from the roof to one of the gas pumps. When you reach the ground, knock down the nozzle from the pump by jiggling its hose and then connect it to our refueling hose. You'll have to then climb onto the pump to select a fuel grade and then climb back down to squeeze the handle on the nozzle to dispense the gasoline. You got all that, Marlene?"

"I got it," she replied. "But, Skipper, how are we going to pay for the gas? Isn't this stealing?"

"I thought you might ask that," Skipper replied as he reached to his right and handed Marlene a plastic card. "Here, this is a debit card. Use it to pay for the gas."

"Where did you get a debit card?" Marlene asked. "Did you swipe it from Alice? Or is its origin classified?"

"If you must know, the boys and I started up a bank account," Skipper replied. "The money we've been depositing into it mainly comes from the change visitors throw into the water of our habitat. You'd be surprised to know just how much we make off of that each year – it's a blessing that we don't have to pay taxes."

"Right," Marlene said, rolling her eyes, as she climbed out of her side of the plane.

"Oh, one more thing, Marlene," Skipper called to her as he got out of the plane himself. "Get the premium grade. Spare no expense."

The two then proceeded to the rear of the airplane where Skipper opened the small compartment and reeled out the aforesaid refueling hose. Marlene then grabbed onto the end of it tightly as Skipper began to carefully send her over the edge of the canopy to the ground below.

On the ground, Marlene executed her end of the mission flawlessly. As she dispensed the gasoline, Skipper tended to the pump system onboard the airplane and kept an eye out for any humans that might get in the way of Operation: Octane running smoothly.

"OK, Marlene, we're full," Skipper called down to her minutes later as he read the gauges which indicated the amount of fuel in each of the plane's tanks.

"All right," she replied as she let go of the handle on the nozzle.

She then struggled – but managed – to place the nozzle back in its proper location on the pump. All that was now left to do was pay.

Marlene climbed up the pump and inserted the debit card, magnetic strip to the left, into the pump's credit card slot and withdrew it. But rather than prompt her to then tender a PIN, the electronic display above the card reader had another message for her: _Error_. She tried once again, but got the same message. Her third attempt was interrupted by a message from the gas station attendant through the PA system:

"_Pump 12, please pay inside. The credit card reader is broken. Thank you."_

"Did you hear that, Skipper?" Marlene called up to him on the canopy. "The guy wants me to pay inside."

"No can do, Marlene, for obvious reasons," Skipper replied. "Let's just get out of here before our cover is blown."

"_Pump 12, do you need assistance?"_ the attendant then asked over the PA system. _"We're sending Anthony out to help you."_

Immediately, the sound of jingling bells a short distance away indicated to Skipper and Marlene that someone had just opened the gas station's door. The sound of a man whistling as his footsteps got closer and closer told them that Anthony was fast approaching.

"Skipper, help!" Marlene yelled.

"You'll have to handle this one on your own," Skipper replied. "It wouldn't be unheard of for a human to see an otter around here, but I'm not even supposed to be on this continent. But I'll be back for you, don't you worry."

"Back?" Marlene asked. "Where are you going?"

She never got her reply. Instead, Skipper took off from the top of the canopy, dragging the 25-foot-long hose behind like a kite tail. Marlene was all alone.

Well, there was Anthony.

"What the – an otter?" said Anthony, the current manager on duty at the gas station. "Not on my shift."

He then tried to grab Marlene, but she was able to duck under his legs, leaving him struggling to keep his balance. By this time, another patron had come to the gas station and was currently washing his windows with a squeegee.

"Thanks," Anthony stated as he yanked the squeegee right out of the man's hands.

"I was using that, sir," the man said back. "You could have at least said 'Please.'"

"No time for that," Anthony replied as he shook the squeegee at Marlene. "All right, just try me, rodent."

Suddenly, a small aircraft landed amid the sea of pumps and then took off again in the blink of an eye.

"You darn kids and your radio-controlled toys!" Anthony yelled at the ascending aircraft. "You could have killed someone. Namely, me."

He then resumed his squeegee-wielding stance, but the otter was nowhere in sight. He looked right and left, up and down, but she was gone. After a moment, Anthony sighed and walked back to the man he had taken the squeegee from.

"Sorry," he said as he handed it back to the man. "I hope you'll accept a free carwash as an apology."

Meanwhile, a short distance away from the gas station, Skipper had one flipper on the airplane's yoke and the other holding Marlene against the side of the fuselage. He then let go of the yoke for just a second and used both flippers to pull Marlene into the cockpit.

"What was that?" Marlene asked, relieved to no longer be dangling hundreds of feet over Dauphin County.

"A touch-and-go landing," Skipper replied. "I told you I'd come back for you."

"Well, it's good to be back," Marlene smiled as she made herself comfortable in her seat. "Real good."

Departing Harrisburg, Skipper and Marlene continued on with their journey west. They flew next to Wheeling, West Virginia, where they again made a refueling stop, only this time it was fortunately without incident. This was followed by stops later in the day in Cincinnati, Ohio and Terre Haute, Indiana. The final stop for the day was in St. Louis, Missouri, where Skipper and Marlene were scheduled to spend the night.

"Impressive timing we've made so far, wouldn't you agree, Marlene?" Skipper turned to her as the plane came to a stop following its landing in a secluded area.

"I do agree," she replied as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "There's still some daylight left to be had, too."

"Indeed there is," Skipper agreed. "I'm almost tempted to fly the next leg to Kansas City right now, but I don't really want to deviate from the schedule Kowalski came up with too much. He spent a long time working on it and all."

"So, what can we do for a while until it's time to sleep?" Marlene asked.

"Personally, I'd like to be the first penguin to climb the Gateway Arch, and I don't mean by using the stairs," Skipper replied. "But I don't have any climbing equipment with me today, and I won't try without it because I don't want to risk a 630-foot fall to an almost certain death. So that dream will have to wait for another day."

"Wow, not what I was expecting to hear, but good to know, I guess," Marlene replied. "Hey, I know something we can do."

"Oh no, you don't want to talk about feelings, do you?" Skipper asked. "I get enough of that back at home whenever Private 'accidentally' stumbles upon a _Dr. Phil_ episode on television. I've been thinking about having Kowalski block that channel for the good of us all."

"Ah, no," Marlene replied as she stood up and went over to retrieve the bag she had packed for the trip and pulled a cardboard box out from inside of it. "I was thinking we could play the inaugural game with this."

Skipper then looked to see Marlene holding a travel-sized chess set.

"Where did you get that?" he asked.

"The zoovenir shop," Marlene replied. "But I'm only borrowing it – I'm going to put it back on the shelf once we get home."

"Well, we best get the most use out of it while we've still got it, then," Skipper smiled. "Set it up and prepare to go down."

With that, Marlene opened up the chess set, using her claws to break through its plastic outer wrapping, and then set up the board. She then began to play game after game against Skipper for hours until they both fell asleep in the middle of one.

When morning came, Skipper and Marlene took to the sky once again. Following the schedule drafted by Kowalski, they left St. Louis at 0800 hours and traveled on to Kansas City, Missouri, followed by Dodge City, Kansas.

On their third stop of the day, in Pueblo, Colorado, Skipper decided to give Marlene a tour of the plane. He began his tour on the outside, showing Marlene the plane's propeller, letting her check the engine oil, and explaining about the aircraft's gull wing design, among other things. Eventually, the tour made its way around to the outside of the pilot's side of the cockpit.

"Go ahead, Marlene, take a seat," Skipper said as he gestured to his seat inside the plane.

"Really?" she asked.

Skipper nodded, so Marlene climbed into the plane and sat down in Skipper's seat.

"This is pretty cool, Skipper," Marlene said, noticing quickly that he wasn't there anymore. "Skipper? Skipper?"

"Right here, Marlene," Skipper replied as he climbed into the cockpit on the passenger side of the plane and sat down.

Marlene then noticed Skipper buckling his seatbelt.

"Skipper, what are you doing?" she wondered.

"Getting ready for takeoff," Skipper replied.

"But you're sitting there and I'm over here," Marlene responded.

Skipper smiled.

"It's time for you to earn your wings, Marlene," he said.

"Wait, what?" she asked.

"You can't be my co-pilot if you don't know how to pilot," Skipper replied. "Otherwise you'd only be my 'co-.' Don't worry, you'll learn quick."

Marlene just stared at Skipper for a moment in total disbelief.

"There's no way I'm getting out of this, is there?" she asked.

"Not a chance," Skipper chuckled. "But I'll be right here to guide you through it. Come on, Marlene, this is going to be fun. And it would be Funday back at the zoo today, you know."

"_Fun_ is playing a game of chess with you, or teaching you how to paint," Marlene continued. "But OK, Skipper, I'll give this flying thing a try. For you."

"Great," Skipper replied with a smile.

He then spent the next several minutes explaining the basic fundamentals of flying an airplane to Marlene. He identified all the instruments and explained their functions, showed her how to work the controls, and taught her the steps involved in executing a takeoff and a landing.

When he was done giving his lesson and finished answering all of Marlene's questions, it was time for Marlene to show what she had learned. After the necessary safety checks, she started by turning the key to start the aircraft.

"How does it feel?" Skipper asked as the engine fired up and the propeller began to spin.

"Exhilarating, yet terrifying," Marlene replied. "I've just never had so much power under my control before. There's so much adrenaline pumping through me right now that it's probably illegal in four states."

Skipper chuckled.

"Well, adrenaline does play a role in the body's fight-or-flight response," he said. "I usually find the 'fight' option a whole lot more exciting, but in your case, I'd recommend _flight_."

Marlene then looked over to Skipper and smiled.

"Are we cleared for takeoff?" she asked.

"We're close," Skipper replied. "We want to take off into the wind, so first let's get turned around 180 degrees."

Marlene then proceeded to taxi the airplane a short distance in order to perform a U-turn. Once the plane was facing the correct direction she again turned to Skipper.

"Now?" she asked.

"Most definitely," Skipper replied. "Open up that throttle and give it heck."

"Got it," Marlene said as she pushed the throttle forward and began the travel down the improvised Colorado runway, her speed increasing with each revolution of the engine. "OK, Skipper, tell me when and I'll take off."

"When," Skipper said after a short few seconds, but Marlene did nothing. "When, Marlene. Marlene?"

He then tapped her on the shoulder.

"Do you want to take off now?" he asked. "Because the runway's gonna end soon."

"Oh, sorry," Marlene apologized as she pulled back on the yoke and lifted the plane off the ground. "I was waiting for you to tell me when."

"But I did say 'when,'" Skipper replied.

"Huh?" Marlene remarked puzzledly.

"Forget it," Skipper replied. "My fault for trying to be cute. Anyway, keep up the climb until we reach an altitude of 15,000 feet."

And so Marlene continued her ascent into the sky. After a short while, cruising altitude was reached.

"How am I doing, Skipper?" she asked after a few more minutes had passed.

"Excellent," Skipper replied. "Who says an otter can't fly?"

"Thanks, Skipper," Marlene smiled. "It's almost hard to believe that I was afraid of flying yesterday and here I am today behind the controls of my very own airplane."

"Um, _whose airplane?_" Skipper inquired. "But anyway, I am quite proud of you; you really have come a long way. I'll tell you what: If your landing totally blows me away when we touch down in Utah, I'll split the trip back home with you 50/50 if you want."

"Seriously?" Marlene asked. "But I'm still so new at flying."

"Marlene, it would be an honor to take you under my wing," Skipper replied. "Or flipper, for that matter."

"You're the best, Skipper," Marlene said, slightly blushing. "Hey, now that I've flown a plane and all, do you think I could drive your car when we get back to New York?"

"Don't push your luck," Skipper chuckled.

The two then continued to converse as the time went on. After a while, Skipper took a quick glance at the altimeter.

"Pull up a little," he said.

"But aren't we supposed to be cruising at 15,000 feet?" Marlene asked.

"Yes, but I want to go up another 1,000," Skipper replied. "Don't ask me why, even I don't know. My gut just tells me to climb a little."

Marlene nodded and pulled back on the yoke, slowly beginning an ascent to 16,000 feet. But just as the altimeter crossed from 15,999 feet to 16,000, there was a sudden bright flash and an explosion near the nose of the plane.

_16,000 feet._

"Skipper! What happened?" Marlene yelled as the plane began a nosedive. "What do I do?"

"Lightning strike came out of nowhere!" Skipper replied as he jumped from his seat to grab hold of the yoke, landing on top of Marlene. "Climb out from under me and get in the other seat – I'll take over. And put on your seatbelt."

_15,618 feet._

Skipper pulled back on the yoke to level out the plane the best he could as Marlene moved into the passenger seat. With the loss of propeller-generated thrust, the plane was now functioning as a glider. Skipper then turned the key to try to restart the engine.

"Come on, you," Skipper said as the ignition ground away but failed to turn over the engine. "Come on."

A large boom of thunder then crashed outside, its vibrations shaking all across the plane. A deluge of rain soon followed in its wake.

_14,991 feet._

"Skipper, how come this storm was never on our radar?" Marlene asked.

"Some malfunction, probably," Skipper replied.

He again tried to restart the engine to no avail. He continued to try again and again for a short while as the plane further progressed in a controlled downward descent. But Skipper only had so much altitude to play with.

_5,076 feet._

Thunder again shook through plane, but Marlene was shaking more.

"It's not going to start again, is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Skipper replied. "But I've got to keep trying."

He turned the key again, but this time there was nothing. Not even a sound from the ignition. It was now completely dead.

"Herbert Clark Hoover and his dam!" Skipper exclaimed. "Why won't you start?"

_4,524 feet._

Suddenly, all lights and electronic displays that had been operating inside the plane went black. The situation in which Skipper and Marlene had found themselves had just been compounded by complete electrical failure.

"Maybe a Kowalski-esque solution would work here," Skipper said to himself as he began randomly pressing buttons and flipping switches on the dashboard, changing nothing. "Or maybe not."

_3,012 feet._

"That's it!" Skipper exclaimed, throwing his flippers up. "I can't restart the engine, and I can't waste any more time grasping at straws. I've got to put this bird down."

Marlene looked at him, confused.

"Not me, Marlene, the plane," he replied as he reached for the lever to lower the landing gear. "I'm going to perform an emergency landing maneuver."

However, an indicator light on the instrument panel suggested otherwise: _Alert! Landing gear failure! Alert!_

"Oh, sure, an entire instrument panel that's pitch black without power and the one light to come on is this," Skipper yelled at the light sarcastically. "This I do not need!"

Then another indicator came on: _Check engine soon._

"_No, really?_" Skipper yelled, rolling his eyes.

_2,764 feet._

"Skipper, couldn't you still land safely in a river?" Marlene asked. "Isn't that what Sully did?"

"There isn't one in sight," Skipper replied, "and I don't have the altitude to go looking."

_2,465 feet._

Suddenly, smoke began billowing from the nose of the plane. And where there's smoke, there's–

"Fire!" Marlene screamed.

"Curse you, Murphy's Law!" Skipper yelled. "One day I will defeat you! One day!"

_1,985 feet._

"Skipper, we're going to die, aren't we?" Marlene asked, truly terrified.

Skipper turned to her.

"Not on my watch," he said. "Take your seatbelt off."

She wasn't sure why, but Marlene quickly unbuckled it. As the flames from the engine fire began to lick farther up the fuselage, Skipper then dragged Marlene on top of himself using one flipper.

_1,605 feet._

"What are you doing?" Marlene asked.

"There's no time to explain," he replied as he held onto her tightly, letting go of the yoke and sending the plane into a nosedive. "Now hold onto me as tight as you can. Dig in with your claws if you have to – in fact, I insist that you do. And get ready for a bumpy ride."

_989 feet._


	4. Together

It pained Marlene to have to hurt her friend, but she complied with Skipper's instructions and held onto him tightly, with her claws digging into his sides. Right after she did so, Skipper kicked a red button on the instrument panel with his foot.

The altimeter read just 509 feet above the earth as Skipper and Marlene shot out of the plane sideways. The ejection seat had performed exactly what it was designed to do.

"Aaaaahh!" Marlene screamed as she held onto Skipper, though he couldn't hear her due to the temporary deafness brought on by the ejection seat blast, nor could she even hear herself.

The parachute inside of the ejection seat then emerged and began to return Skipper and Marlene safely to the ground. They landed about 100 yards away from the smoldering wreckage of what had been their mode of transport, their hearts pounding as their feet made contact with the ground.

Marlene then released her death grip on Skipper and Skipper freed himself from the confines of the ejection seat. The two then resumed holding onto each other, only this time it was the hug of a lifetime.

"We're alive!" Marlene said joyfully. "Oh, Skipper, we're alive! Glory to God!"

Skipper raised a flipper to his ear hole to indicate that he couldn't yet hear.

"Neither can I," Marlene said as she shook her head and placed a paw to her own ear.

A few minutes later, their hearing came back, although there was still some residual ringing.

"Sorry about not being able to explain anything to you back on the plane," Skipper said. "The boys and I never got around to installing a second ejection seat, and I had little time to act."

"Don't worry about it," Marlene replied. "What matters is that we're safe and together. Though our plane going down was the scariest moment of my life."

"I hear you," Skipper responded. "It's definitely on my top 10 list."

Marlene then noticed some blood coming from Skipper's sides where she had held onto him as well as on her paws.

"Skipper, I hurt you," she said.

"No you didn't," Skipper replied. "You did exactly what I told you to do. If I didn't have you hold me that tight, there's no way you could have held on with the g-forces we experienced. And even if you could have without using your claws, I wouldn't have chanced your life on it."

"Thanks," Marlene smiled.

"Don't mention it," Skipper replied.

Suddenly, a crash of thunder broke into their conversation. The rain, which was a deluge to begin with, then began to fall even harder, now with a little hail mixed in. Skipper placed a flipper over Marlene's head to shield her the best he could.

"This storm is just relentless, isn't it?" Marlene said of the storm's ferocity. "What are we going to do now?"

"Likely get wet, catch colds, develop pneumonia, and perish," Skipper replied.

"Say what?" Marlene questioned.

"I'm only kidding, Marlene," Skipper replied. "If we lose our sense of humor, we'll lose our minds. But seriously, I can assure you that we are going to be OK."

"How, Skipper?" Marlene asked. "We're out in the middle of nowhere."

"Actually, Marlene, my gut tells me that we're more east of Nowhere," Skipper replied. "But anyway, we're not completely ill-prepared to survive against the elements. I've got just the thing to level the playing field with Mother Nature a little."

Skipper then left Marlene for a moment and waddled over to the ejection seat, which was now lying on the ground, and removed a panel from the back of it. He then removed an object from it as Marlene walked over to take a look.

"Here, this will pop itself up," Skipper said as he handed Marlene a package which contained a small survival tent. "Get inside of it before the rain gets any worse. I have one, too, and I'll place mine next to yours in a few minutes."

Marlene nodded and then proceeded to open up the package. Meanwhile, Skipper removed his own survival tent from the back of the ejection seat, as well as a nylon bag which contained four cans of fish, four bottles of water, matches, two flashlights, a pair of binoculars, a flare gun with cartridges, and a few random items that was also inside. He then carried his tent and bag over to where Marlene's tent stood and set up his tent beside it. He crawled in momentarily thereafter.

"What happens now?" Marlene asked from the dry shelter of her tent.

"We stay together and we stay close to this area," Skipper replied. "It won't be long before the boys are aware that we've gone down, assuming they don't know already. Kowalski's air traffic control system should be able to pinpoint our location; they'll come looking for us. I don't know how they'll get here – Commercial air? Train? Enterprise Rent-A-Car? – but I know they'll come looking."

"Timeframe?" Marlene asked.

"Several days, I imagine," Skipper replied.

"Days?" Marlene asked. "Skipper, how are we going to survive with nothing to eat?"

"I've got four cans of fish to start us off with," Skipper replied.

"And when they run out?" Marlene continued.

"We'll search around for edible plants and things like that," Skipper replied. "It'll be a hippie's diet, but we'll get by."

"But what if we find nothing and are forced to resort to cannibalism out of desperation?" Marlene continued.

"Well, we're different species, so that wouldn't really be cannibalism," Skipper replied.

"Skipper!" Marlene objected. "Not helping."

"Relax, Marlene," Skipper continued. "It will never come to that for three reasons. First, we just aren't going to be out here long enough before the boys come for starvation to be a real issue. Second, even if it was, I think either of us would rather die than even consider the thought of consuming the other. And third, my _gut _tells me things will be OK – no pun intended."

"Very well, Skipper," Marlene replied, accepting his confidence. "So, what can we do to kill some time around here?"

"How about a good game of 20 Questions?" Skipper suggested. "I'll pick first."

"Is it larger than a survival tent?" Marlene began.

Meanwhile, in New York City, three penguins stood atop their habitat's platform smiling and waving as a small group of zoo visitors left them to move on to another exhibit.

"What a rip – the last time I came I got to see four penguins," one of them could be heard muttering as he departed.

"What a grumpy Gus," Private commented as he shook his head. "He still got to see three penguins _perform a show_, so I think he still got his money's worth."

Kowalski nodded in agreement and then glanced upward toward the sun.

"Um, why are you staring at the sun, Kowalski?" Private asked puzzledly. "Don't you remember what happened to Manfredi and Johnson when they did that?"

"I wasn't staring at the sun, Private," Kowalski replied, turning to him. "I was merely peaking at it for but a moment to judge its solar position. And by the look of it, we're due to give Skipper and Marlene another call on the radio right about now."

"Ah, you're right," Private agreed.

And with that, the group made their way into the HQ for their latest radio rendezvous, with Kowalski leading the way. But when they arrived inside, something was amiss.

"Hey, Kowalski, where is that siren coming from?" Private asked as the team all heard an unfamiliar sound that sounded like a cross between a fire alarm and an air raid alert.

"It appears to be coming from our air traffic control console," Kowalski replied as he and the others waddled over to it.

There, the three gasped in unison as they read the alert message flashing on the screen.

"Kowalski, please tell me that 'Aircraft lost' just means that our radar is having trouble finding the signal of Skipper and Marlene's plane," Private said with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"If that were the case, the alert would be 'Signal lost,'" Kowalski replied as he sniffled. "'Aircraft lost' only means one thing: They've … they've … they've gone down."

"No!" Private exclaimed as he jumped up and hugged Kowalski in fright. "Skipper! Marlene!"

"No! No! No!" Rico declared as he jumped up and down franticly.

"We've got to find them!" Private stated. "They could still be alive!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Rico agreed.

"Private, I hate to say this," Kowalski began in a tearful tone, "but the odds that Skipper and Marlene could have possibly survived this are–"

"How can you even say such a thing?" Private objected. "Skipper taught you how to listen to your gut. Surely you – his first lieutenant, of all people – must know in your gut if our Skipper and his passenger are still alive. You've got to know. You've just got to."

Kowalski sighed and then closed his eyes for a moment. He thought about his last memories of seeing Skipper and Marlene when they had left the HQ the morning before and of talking to them by radio just hours ago. He traced over the route they had flown ever since they had left New York in his mind as he tried to summon forth some sort of sixth sense of their current mortal status. And then suddenly–

"They're alive!" Kowalski said as his eyes shot open. "I've got a gut feeling, and it feels pretty good. Yes, they are most definitely alive."

Rico and Private cheered at the good news delivered by Kowalski's instincts. But good news too often accompanies the bad.

"They're alive, but they still face dangers," Kowalski warned, quieting the celebration. "The sooner we find them, the better. Let's come up with a plan."

The three then spent the next 30 minutes or so discussing possibilities and tactics for launching a rescue mission so far away from New York. Once the plan was complete, Kowalski sighed.

"And now it falls on my shoulders to do something particularly difficult," he said.

"What would that be?" Private asked.

"I have to let Marlene's parents know that Skipper and Marlene's plane went down," Kowalski replied. "We do have the phone number for their habitat over in Monterey, right?"

"They don't have their own phone line, but we do have a number for communications going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium," Private replied. "We can reach them through that."

"OK," Kowalski said. "Could you please get it for me?"

Private nodded and then went to look up the number from an inter-zoo communications directory that the team had at the HQ. He returned to Kowalski momentarily and provided him the digits.

"And what's the area code?" Kowalski then asked. "You forgot to tell me that."

"Sorry," Private replied. "It's 831."

"Thanks," Kowalski said as he waddled to the phone and then dialed the long-distance number.

After a few rings, a female voice answered on the other end.

"Overseas operator," she said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I must have misdialed," Kowalski apologized. "I was looking for the Monterey Bay Aquarium."

"Nah, you've reached it, hon," the female replied. "I just like to have a little fun when I answer the phone. My name is Peggy, and I'm sort of the animals' secretary around here. Were you trying to reach someone specific?"

"Yes, actually," Kowalski said. "You've recently gotten in an otter couple. I have an important matter I need to speak with them about."

"Ah, they're such a sweet pair," Peggy commented. "I'll send for them right now."

"Thanks," Kowalski said.

About three minutes later, a male voice was heard on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" he said.

Kowalski cleared his throat.

"Mr. DeOtter, my name is Kowalski, and I'm the second-in-command penguin at the Central Park–" he began.

"Oh, you're one of Marlene's friends, right?" Marlene's father broke-in. "Hey, you don't need to be so formal. You can call me Ray."

"Well, Ray, there's been a situation that I regretfully have to inform you of," Kowalski continued. "The airplane carrying your daughter and Skipper has been lost – it's gone down."

"My God!" Ray gasped. "Tell me they're OK, Kowalski. How bad were they injured?"

"I don't know, sir," Kowalski replied. "I don't even have any tangible proof that they survived the crash. All I have is my gut."

"Come again?" Ray inquired.

"Skipper trained us to listen to our gut instincts and beliefs when we can't physically see the whole situation or problem before us with our eyes," Kowalski replied. "It took me a little longer than the others to learn the skill, but I finally picked up on it. My gut tells me that both he and Marlene are alive, and I'm inclined to believe it. That's what Skipper would want me to do."

"Well, where did they go down?" Ray then asked.

"Colorado," Kowalski replied. "Somewhere west of Pueblo and east of the Utah state line. Unfortunately, my jury-rigged radar system isn't as accurate as I had hoped, so I'm unable to pinpoint anything more precise at the moment."

"Can they survive out there?" Ray inquired. "They must be in the middle of nowhere."

"Skipper is the most skilled and most loyal leader I've ever known, and your daughter has a good head on her shoulders," Kowalski replied. "I'm confident that they can make it through most anything as long as they stick together. And knowing them both the way I do, I know they'll never leave each other's side."

Kowalski then heard over the phone as Lynne walked up to Ray and asked him what was going on. He heard Ray reply something inaudible and then heard Lynne burst out in tears.

"Ray, we've got a rescue operation planned," Kowalski then said. "Tell your wife that everything is going to be OK."

Ray passed the message on to Lynne and then pressed Kowalski for more details.

"I'm an inventor," Kowalski replied. "Several months ago, I began working in secret on a penguin-sized version of a superblimp, a lighter-than-air craft I had once seen in a nightmare. I think if I really push myself and skimp on non-essential features, the airship can be finished in several days. Once complete, I will leave in it with the other two members of our Penguin Unit, Rico and Private, and fly it to Colorado to search for Skipper and Marlene and bring them home."

"Well, that sounds like a good plan," Ray responded. "Listen, can you do me a favor, Kowalski?"

"Sure," Kowalski replied.

"Two, actually," Ray continued. "First, can you call every day to update either me or Lynne on your progress? And second, would you give Marlene a big hug from us the second you find her and tell her how much we love her?"

"You can count on it, sir," Kowalski pledged.

"I appreciate it," Ray said. "Well, good luck to you. I better go – I've got to try to process everything that's just happened. As you might imagine, it's quite a shock."

"I understand," Kowalski replied. "Goodbye, Ray. I'll call again tomorrow."

"Goodbye," Ray said on the other end, hanging up the phone.

As Kowalski did the same at his end, he looked to his teammates.

"Let's get to work, boys," he said. "Rico, I'm going to need a hammer, a hacksaw, a grinding wheel, a T-square, an arc welder, a 60-foot tape measure, a micrometer, an assortment of nuts and bolts, a monkey wrench, an industrial jack, a rivet gun, several thousand cubic feet of helium …"

And so on. It was quite a task indeed.


	5. Transitions

As night fell in Colorado, Skipper and Marlene were inside of their tents getting their first night of sleep out in the wilderness. Well, at least Skipper was. Marlene, on the other hand, had tossed and turned for hours, too afraid of being all alone in the dark to catch any winks herself.

Eventually, Marlene decided to stop trying for a while and to instead go out for some air. But being alone in the dark _outside of_ her tent soon made her feel all the more vulnerable.

Slowly, she walked over to Skipper's tent, which was somewhat illuminated by the light of the moon. After a few moments of thought, she unzipped it. Certainly he wouldn't mind some company, especially under the circumstances.

"Intruder!" Skipper yelled as he sprang awake and reached to his right. "Don't move or I'll shoot!"

"No, Skipper, it's me," Marlene said, a little frightened.

"Marlene?" Skipper asked.

"No, Chuck Norris," Marlene responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Of course it's Marlene."

She then shined the flashlight she had carried with her at Skipper, noticing the object he was holding in his flipper in the process.

"Oh, real deadly, Skipper," she remarked. "It's a good thing I'm not a real intruder. I'd hate getting shot with a spoon."

"I'll have you know this is the same teaspoon I buried Manfredi and Johnson with, thank you very much," Skipper replied as he set the spoon down.

"Right," Marlene replied, rolling her eyes once again.

"All right, Marlene, let's be serious now," Skipper then said. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company and the interruption of my sleep?"

"Can I stay here with you?" she asked. "Please?"

"Marlene, these tents are only built for one," Skipper replied. "There's barely enough room for you to pop in for a visit, let alone stay with me."

Marlene looked disappointed and a little worried.

"I'm afraid to be alone, OK?" she continued. "I'm still a novice when it comes to being outside the zoo as it is, let alone having to survive in this environment. I don't know what kinds of bad things might be out here to get me. Snakes? Mountain lions? Falling space debris? I'd just feel a whole lot better being around you right now. If you don't mind, that is."

"I don't mind, Marlene," Skipper replied. "As long as you are comfortable with being rather close to me. Like I said, space is tight, and I wouldn't want you to feel uneasy."

"Uneasy?" Marlene remarked. "What's the worst thing you could do, Skipper, tell me 'Goodnight'? I trust you more than anyone or anything; you're my best friend."

Skipper smiled.

"Well, in that case, _mi casa es su casa_," he said. "Sorry, I don't know how to say 'tent' in Spanish."

"Don't worry about it, _señor_," Marlene smiled. "Just know that it means a lot to me that you're letting me stay with you. _Gracias_."

She then turned her flashlight off and set herself down on the ground beside Skipper, just a few inches away from him. Skipper then rolled over to face her.

"I guess it's time for me to do my worst, then," he said. "Have a good night, Marlene."

The two then shut their eyes to rest. Both were asleep in mere minutes.

Later on that night, Skipper awoke to the feel of something warm touching him. This something warm also seemed to have a pulse. He looked down to find that Marlene had inched ever so closer to him during the night and now had a paw placed on his side.

"Psst, Marlene," he whispered to her, trying to wake her up. "Marlene."

But it was of no use; Marlene was sound asleep. Skipper then reached with a flipper to move Marlene's paw himself, but then decided not to bother.

"I suppose there's really no harm in it," he thought to himself as he looked at Marlene's paw for a moment, then whispered to her again. "Pleasant dreams, Marlene."

He then placed his head back down and drifted off to sleep once again.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Kowalski and Private were working through the night as they continued along with the superblimp's construction. Knowing that constructing the craft quickly would require round-the-clock work for more than a week, Kowalski decided that he, Private, and Rico would work in rotating shifts, with one of them resting while the other two pressed on.

"Could you hand me that welding mask, Private?" Kowalski asked as he prepared to weld together two more pieces of the superblimp's frame.

"Sure, Kowalski," Private replied as he passed over the protective headgear.

Kowalski then placed it on his head, brought the shield down, and proceeded to begin work on the weld.

"So, how fast can we reach Colorado once the superblimp is complete?" Private then asked.

"Well, we'll be traveling at around 20 miles per hour on average, sometimes better and sometimes worse depending on wind conditions," Kowalski began. "We'll fly in round-the-clock shifts just like we're doing now with our construction, so we should be able to make it over Colorado after around 84 hours of flight. After that, I don't know how long it will take to locate Skipper and Marlene. Without knowing the precise coordinates of where they went down, I'll have to rely on an untested navigational aid to find them once we arrive over the state."

"What's that?" Private inquired.

"My gut instincts," Kowalski replied. "If ever there was a real challenge for them, this is surely it."

"Don't worry, Kowalski, I'm sure they will perform splendidly," Private stated. "They knew that Skipper and Marlene were alive, after all."

"Thanks, Private," Kowalski smiled.

And so the work continued through the night.

As morning came in Colorado, Marlene awoke to the sound of chirping birds off in the distance. She enjoyed their song for a few moments as she stretched and then tapped Skipper on the side to wake him up.

"It's time to get up, Skipper," she said. "I'm not sure what we're going to be doing yet, but it's probably time to do it."

"Just five more minutes, Mom," Skipper said as he yawned. "I've finally gotten that hippie right where I want him."

"Um, Skipper," Marlene replied awkwardly as she continued to try to wake him up, "I can't be your mother because you're older than me. Also, I think your father would object."

"Huh?" Skipper wondered as he suddenly became awake and alert. "Oh, sorry, Marlene. I was just having this beautiful dream where I was hog-tying a hippie using the cord of his own peace sign necklace and I guess I didn't want it to end."

"You don't say," Marlene replied. "Anywho, good morning, Skipper. So, what's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, I figure we ought to explore the area to see if we can find something to eat," Skipper replied. "Since we split one can of fish last night, we now have three left. We should really ration those and save them for when they're really needed, so we'll be forgoing breakfast this morning. Instead, we should try to live off the land the best we can."

"I heard some birds a short time ago," Marlene then said. "Maybe we can watch them and eat what they eat."

"I'd actually rather not do that unless we're really on the verge of starvation," Skipper replied. "Do you know what those birds are probably dining on now?"

Marlene shook her head.

"Well, you've probably heard the idiom 'The early bird catches the worm,' right?" he continued. "Well, with all the rain that fell yesterday, lots of worms have come up to the surface and are now being feasted upon. Now I may be a bird myself, but I'm no worm-eater. The thought of swallowing one of those things just gives me the creeps."

"I'll second that," Marlene agreed.

Shortly thereafter, Skipper and Marlene ventured out to explore the area close to the crash site hoping to find something more suitable than squirmy invertebrates to eat. After about 15 minutes of looking without success, however, Skipper decided to turn around to begin exploring in a different direction.

"Skipper, watch your step!" Marlene then warned as she spotted a raised tree root right where Skipper was about to place his next step.

By the time she completed her final word, however, a thud and a groan said that Skipper had been too late to heed her caution.

"Are you OK?" Marlene asked as she reached down to help Skipper up.

Skipper spit a bit of green plant matter out of his mouth before responding.

"I'm fine," he said. "But guess what? I think I've just found something around here that we can eat after all."

He then bent down and plucked a few pieces of the same green plant he had just gotten a faceful of and handed them to Marlene.

"Mint?" she asked as she sniffed the pickings. "I can do mint."

"Then _bon appétit_," Skipper said as he joined Marlene in eating some of the wild mint they had found.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Kowalski was just finishing his shift working on the superblimp. It was now time for Rico to take over for him and continue along with Private.

"Well, it's time for me to punch the clock and hit the hay – figuratively speaking, of course," Kowalski said as he waddled over to his bunk. "Private, you're in charge."

"Me, Kowalski?" Private wondered. "But Rico outranks me."

"Maybe so, but you were the one I began fabrication with, so you have better knowledge of the project thus far," Kowalski replied. "Besides, putting Rico in charge with such a wide access to power tools and potential implements of destruction would be foolhardy at best, life-threatening at worst. On that happy note, goodnight."

"Um, I think you mean good _morning_, Kowalski," Private responded. "It's nearly 11 a.m."

"Well, it's nighttime for me," Kowalski replied. "I'll see you in a while."

The hours then began to tick by for both Skipper and Marlene out in Colorado and the penguin team-minus-one back in New York. Before long, the day was gone. Night came, day came, and night came once again. Another day. Then another. And another. Both groups soon found themselves following a constant pattern: Skipper and Marlene waiting for help to arrive, and Kowalski and crew working sunup to sundown, moonrise to moonset to provide it.

Eventually, 11 days after Skipper and Marlene had gone down in the Rocky Mountain State, their friends in the Empire State had finally completed the aerostat built to rescue them.

"Yes!" Kowalski cheered at six past 0300 hours in the morning as he tightened the final bolt on the superblimp, turning then to Rico. "Rico, go wake up Private. We're leaving in 10 minutes."

Twenty seconds later, the sound of an air horn echoed throughout the HQ. Twenty-one seconds later, the sound of Private screaming at the manner in which Rico chose to wake him replaced it. Moments later, Private joined up with Kowalski and Rico in front of the superblimp.

"It's a good thing we built the superblimp in our secret aircraft hangar or we'd never get it out of the HQ," Private said. "Then we'd have to disassemble it and reconstruct it again like we had to do with our snakehead-hunting submarine."

"Indeed that was a mistake I wasn't about to make twice," Kowalski replied. "Anyway, grab your gear and climb aboard. We'll be taking to the sky momentarily."

"Are you sure you don't want to wait until daybreak?" Private wondered.

"I'm positive," Kowalski responded. "Not only can we not fly out of here when humans are around, but Skipper and Marlene have waited for us long enough already. I won't allow their rescue to be delayed any further."

Private nodded and then went to fetch a few items he needed for the trip. He returned minutes later carrying one suitcase and his Lunacorn doll.

"Um, you're bringing your Lunacorn on a rescue mission?" Kowalski wondered puzzledly as Private climbed aboard the superblimp.

"Maybe she'll bring us good luck," Private responded.

"Well, Skipper would likely object if he were here, but I'll allow it," Kowalski replied. "We need all the luck we can get."

Kowalski then untied the superblimp from its anchoring points, climbed up into the cabin, and started up the propellers. Having already opened the doors of the hangar, he then proceeded to fly out through them into the dark New York night.

"Hey, Kowalski, don't you think someone will notice that we're gone for a while?" Private then asked as the superblimp began its ascent into the sky. "And when we mysteriously show up again, wouldn't that be kind of suspicious? I mean, the fact that Marlene hasn't been seen around here lately is probably causing some people to scratch their heads enough already."

"Not to worry, Private, I've already got our absences covered," Kowalski replied. "Late last night, I arranged for some penguins from the Bronx Zoo to come here and cover for us until we get back. They were actually very willing to help us out."

"But aren't they Magellanic Penguins?" Private wondered. "Don't you think that at least Alice is going to realize that those birds look different than us?"

"I don't think Alice is going to know the difference, Private," Kowalski assured him. "This is the same woman who once thought that one of us was female. If that were the case, in all the years she's been working here, don't you think she would have seen one of us lay an egg by now? Clearly she can't put two and two together."

"What about the humans who visit the zoo?" Private wondered.

"Honestly, Private, as long as they're looking at something cute that has feathers and waddles, the humans won't think twice," Kowalski replied. "They're such simpletons."

And so the rescue mission was officially underway. Things were now beginning to look up – they were finally on their way.

Several hours later, however, there were some feelings of pessimism two time zones over.

"You know, Marlene, I really thought that we would have been back home by now, where our biggest headache is putting up with Julien and his wild music, not being forced to live in the wild," Skipper said as he sat with Marlene on yet another morning far from home. "I'm beginning to think that we're going to be stuck here unless we take some sort of action of our own."

"What kind of action did you have in mind?" Marlene inquired.

"Leaving this place and trying to get help," Skipper replied. "If we walk far enough, we're bound to run into some creature who will lend us a hand, paw, or wing in assistance. Maybe we'll even get lucky and find a road that will lead us into town so we can get a call out to the boys, assuming they haven't left the Big Apple."

"Is it really wise to leave?" Marlene wondered. "We know we've got food around here, not to mention the natural spring we found. Would we be as lucky someplace else?"

"I'm sure we'll be able to find something," Skipper replied. "Who knows – maybe we'll even stumble upon some river that has fish."

"Well, if we did leave this place, which direction would we go?" Marlene wondered, looking around at the nothingness that surrounded them on all sides.

"It's really a tossup, but I say we head north," Skipper answered.

"North?" Marlene asked. "How do you even know which direction that is?"

"I rummaged through the plane wreckage and removed its navigational compass this morning before you got up," Skipper replied. "It still works."

"Ah, so I guess you had leaving on your mind even before we began discussing it," Marlene said.

"There's some truth to that," Skipper replied. "But you're half of this whole situation. We'll only leave if you're comfortable with it."

Marlene thought it over for a moment. She looked at the plane wreckage, at the tent she and Skipper had been living in, and then back to Skipper himself. Her mind was made up.

"You're on point, Skipper; I'll follow," she said. "Hopefully something good awaits us beyond these few acres."

"I hope so, too," Skipper replied. "Come, help me fold up the tent and gather our things and then we can be on our way."

Marlene then assisted Skipper with the preparations, and soon it was time to head off. As Skipper and Marlene then began their journey, Marlene suddenly thought of one important item that had been left behind at the crash site.

"Skipper, do you want to go back and get the black box out of the wreckage?" she asked. "I only just thought about it. I'm sure it contains a lot of important data about when we went down."

Skipper chuckled.

"That won't be necessary, Marlene," he said. "We never bothered to install any type of flight data recorder on _Air Force Penguin_ for security reasons. Can you imagine what might happen if a device such as that fell into the grasp of Dr. Blowhole? Goodnight, sister."

"Right," Marlene responded, slowly and sarcastically, as she rolled her eyes.

The two then continued on their journey.

Many hours and several miles later, Skipper and Marlene were becoming a bit tired. Skipper especially, what with his small legs and all. As they neared a small creek up ahead, both decided it might be a good place to rest for a while as well as to rehydrate themselves.

"Ahh, refreshing," Skipper said as he sipped on some water he had scooped up in his flippers.

"I concur," Marlene replied as she splashed some water over her fur. "The water is so clean and clear here. Not like that time you took me to the East River."

"Oh, come on," Skipper replied. "The East River wasn't all that bad."

"Skipper, I counted six Hondas, four Toyotas, and a Buick on the bottom, and I was only swimming for 10 minutes," Marlene responded.

"Really?" Skipper asked. "You should have told me while we were still there. We could have gone on an underwater treasure hunt."

As Skipper and Marlene continued to converse by the creek, a slight drizzle began to fall from the sky.

"Is this rain going to affect our mission any?" Marlene wondered as she watched the raindrops create ripples in the slow-flowing stream.

"A little sprinkle like this shouldn't be a big deal at all," Skipper replied.

"You're probably right, Skipper," Marlene agreed. "Hey, it might even be fun and refreshing to walk in it."

"As long as we don't have to sing in it," Skipper replied. "Our expedition is not some '50s musical."

"Fine by me," Marlene agreed.

The two then left the creek to continue along on their journey. The rain kept pace with them for the next hour or so, but hadn't evolved beyond a steady drizzle.

All that was about to change.

"Aaahh!" Marlene screamed, caught off guard, as a sudden crash of thunder rolled through the sky. "Where did that come from?"

"Probably the same place this sudden downpour came from," Skipper replied as the gentle drizzle turned into a soaking storm. "What is it with us attracting thunderstorms? We just can't catch a break, can we?"

As lightning struck the ground a quarter-mile away, the wind began to pick up. The sky then turned green and ugly as branches from surrounding trees swayed and cracked in the rush of wind.

"Stick close, Marlene," Skipper then said as he wrapped a flipper around Marlene's side. "I don't like the looks of this."

As another bolt of lightning kissed the earth with electricity – this one much closer – Skipper turned around to see if anything nearby had been struck. Instead, he saw something far more terrifying.

"Holy mother of catfish!" he exclaimed with a shocked look on his face.

"What is it, Skipper?" Marlene asked.

"Don't turn around," Skipper replied. "And don't worry. We should be safe if we can just get low in a protected area."

"Low?" Marlene asked nervously as she disregarded Skipper's request and looked at what was behind her off in the distance. "Oh my God, Skipper, it's a tornado!"

"Yeah, it is," Skipper replied. "Kowalski would probably be ecstatic about being able to finally chase one right now, but I have no desire to go the way of Dorothy and Toto myself. Help me look for someplace safe."

"There's no time to look, Skipper, we've got to run!" Marlene replied as she pulled away from him and took off running.

"There's no outrunning this, Marlene!" Skipper yelled as he ran after her and quickly caught up. "The only thing we can do it take cover."

The base of the twister was zigzagging erratically as it moved in on them faster than they could have even imagined. The swirling, violent wind made it difficult to even breathe. Time was running out.

Suddenly, Skipper spotted something that looked promising a short distance away.

"Just ahead, I think I see a ditch we can get into," he said as he grabbed Marlene's paw and ran with her. "Come on, come on, we don't have much time!"

When they reached the depression, the tornado was just a few hundred feet behind them and closing in fast. With no time left to be polite, Skipper pushed Marlene into the ditch as soon as they reached it and then leapt into it himself. He then climbed on top of Marlene to give her the most protection possible.

"I'm scared, Skipper," Marlene then said.

"I'll let you in on a little secret: So am I," he replied. "But if that tornado wants you, it's got to go through me first."

Unfortunately, the tornado was quick to oblige to those terms. Suddenly, it was right on top of them.


	6. Alone

For the first time without the aid of something artificial, Skipper was flying. With her penguin friend no longer there to protect her, it was only a few milliseconds later until Marlene would join him. It was a rather violent lift away from the surface of the earth, but surprisingly routine once inside the body of the vortex. Well, as routine as it could possibly be while trying to dodge piece after piece of swirling debris and praying for the love of all things holy that you might actually live through it all.

Following the principle of "first in, first out," Skipper was the first one to be expelled from the tornado. He landed a good quarter-mile from where he and Marlene had been picked up, slamming head first into what remained of a pine tree. For him, the worst was over.

It was a full 15 minutes before Skipper regained consciousness from the impact, and there was only one thing on his mind when he came to: Marlene.

"Marlene! Marlene!" he shouted for her. "Come on, Marlene, where are you?"

He then looked across at the utter devastation wreaked by the tornado's fury. How he had survived it was a miracle – was it asking too much for both to survive?

One mile north, Marlene lay under a pile of debris. It was an effort to unbury herself, but she managed to do it within a short while. And there was only one thing on her mind when she emerged: Skipper.

"Skipper! Skipper!" she yelled in every direction. "Where are you? Please, Skipper, I need you!"

"Marlene!" Skipper continued his shouts a mile away. "Marlene!"

Suddenly, Skipper felt a terrible pain in his left flipper. He looked down to find it bent in two places in which it should never be bent, regardless of whether he was double-jointed or not.

"Aaahh!" he yelled in pain as he touched it with his right. "This does not wash!"

Despite his pain, Skipper knew that he had to press on – Marlene was still out there somewhere, and he was determined to find her. As he cradled his broken flipper against his chest with his good one, Skipper noticed a familiar object just about 50 feet from where he was standing: the bag he had carried with him.

"Why couldn't it have been Marlene who landed so close by?" Skipper sighed to himself as he waddled over to retrieve it. "Why?"

Using his beak and his good flipper, Skipper tore off an unused outer compartment from the bag. He then fashioned the frayed piece of fabric into a makeshift sling and placed his broken left flipper into it. He didn't have the medical know-how to properly set the bones, so he instead just let his flipper rest in a position that at least felt moderately bearable.

He then picked up his supply bag – less the three reserve cans of fish that the tornado had decided to make a meal out of – and set off down the path of tornado damage. There was a lot of ground to cover, but he knew that Marlene would likely be along it somewhere.

Meanwhile, Marlene continued to call out Skipper's name as she traversed the tornado's path a mile away from her penguin friend. She had to contend with an aching neck and tail as she did so, though the greatest pain she felt was being separated from Skipper and fearing how he might be.

Hours soon passed for both of them in their desperate searches to find the other. Skipper's voice had long gone out from all his shouts of Marlene's name, and Marlene was on the brink of collapse. Eventually, the sun ducked behind the horizon and a lonely night followed in its wake. Defeated at the moment by nature and their own physical limits, Skipper and Marlene had no choice but to search no further until morning.

Though he had a survival tent packed with him in his bag, Skipper had no intention of using it whatsoever, as he knew that Marlene was without shelter of her own. Instead, he selected an area beside a log to make his temporary barracks and covered himself up with a few large leaves. He then glanced up at the moon as a tear came to his eye.

"Goodnight, Marlene, wherever you are," he said.

At that same moment, Marlene's eyes were focused on the moon as well. She had found a space amongst some rocks to spend the night. It was truly her first night alone in the wild, but she suddenly felt a bit less afraid. It was almost as if she wasn't so alone after all.

"Goodnight, Skipper," she said. "Goodnight."

When Skipper awoke the next morning, he instinctively looked next to himself to greet Marlene. Spotting nothing but dirt and twigs beside him was a sad reminder that she was not there with him. He sighed and then stood up.

He then realized that he had a bit of company.

"You're an awfully long way from Antarctica, aren't you, boy?" a female hawk was there to say. "Tell me, how does a penguin such as yourself find his way to the Colorado backwoods? It must have been one heck of a waddle."

Had this been any other day, Skipper probably would have tackled the bird, restrained her, and commenced an interrogation to find out which enemy outfit she was an operative of. But today things were different. Right now, Skipper was in need of help, and this hawk, whoever she was, was the first creature that might be able to provide it. Without hesitation, he answered her question.

"I'm not from Antarctica," Skipper replied. "I'm as American as apple pie, the Super Bowl, and Abe Lincoln. I live at a zoo in New York."

"Then how did you get here?" the hawk inquired.

"I left the zoo by airplane with a friend of mine," Skipper continued. "Our destination was California, but we obviously never made it. Our plane went down 12 days ago after being struck by lightning in a bad thunderstorm."

"Animals leaving the zoo?" the hawk questioned. "Is that all true? If you ask me, it sounds more like a plot from some CGI movie."

"I just compared myself to Honest Abe – of course it's true," Skipper responded. "But that's not even the worst part of my horrific tale. The worst part is that Marlene and I left the crash site yesterday to try to find help and ended up being sucked up by a tornado. And I haven't seen her since. Finding her is the only thing that matters right now."

"I take it that this Marlene is important to you," the hawk said.

"More than I'll ever let you in on," Skipper replied. "Say, um–"

"Paula," the hawk stated her name.

"Yes, Paula," Skipper continued, "do you think you could help me?"

"Well, if I was going to eat you, I would have done it already," Paula said. "What did you have in mind?"

"Help me look for Marlene," Skipper said. "You can cover more area by air than I can by waddling around on the ground. Please, I need to find her."

"I think I could handle that," Paula agreed. "She looks a bit like you, I imagine?"

Skipper chuckled.

"Nah, she's a mammal," Skipper replied. "One of the good ones, though. Marlene is an otter."

"An otter," Paula nodded. "Gotcha."

"Well, I certainly appreciate your willingness to help, especially since we've only known each other for two minutes," Skipper then said.

"Think nothing of it," Paula replied. "Having a conversation with a penguin is actually something that I've long had on my bucket list, so I'm the one who should really be thanking you."

"Not quite the response I was expecting, but good to have you aboard," Skipper continued. "Anyway, how about we head out on the search and meet back here in, say, four hours. Just trace the tornado's damage path and the area surrounding it. Marlene generally trusts strangers a little too much back home, but might understandably be frightened of you out here in the wild, so make sure to mention my name first thing if you find her."

"And your name is?" Paula wondered.

"Skipper," he replied.

"OK," Paula said as she spread her large wings. "I'll see what I can come up with."

A few flaps later, she was in the air. Skipper watched until she flew out of sight and then began to waddle away from the place where he had made camp. He knew that he could only cover a fraction of the territory that Paula could, but he wasn't about to just sit around while Marlene was still out there. With a voice that had recovered during the night, he once again began to call out her name.

Meanwhile, the light of a new day allowed Marlene to resume her search for Skipper. Unlike Skipper's good fortune, there was no friendly, flight-capable creature suddenly standing next to her when she awoke, so she had to go it alone. As she left the rocks where she had spent the night, Marlene carried a large pointy stick with her; combined with the karate moves that Skipper had taught her over the years, she might have a fighting chance against any foe that came her way.

And so three creatures were now involved in a great search. None, however, were ever headed in the right direction at the right time. As Skipper, the only one with a physical compass, headed south, Paula flew north tracing over the path of tornado damage. Meanwhile, Marlene was currently heading southwest, and every step she took was just guesswork.

As time went on, each eventually reversed course and traveled in the opposite direction. At no time, however, did any of them happen to cross paths.

Eventually, four hours had passed and Skipper returned to the log where he and Paula had met. She was running a bit late, which made Skipper a little worried as he contemplated possible reasons for her delay, but she soon appeared from the sky.

No one else was with her.

"Sorry if I was late – I don't have a watch," Paula said as she approached Skipper.

"Any word?" Skipper asked. "Any clues at all?"

Paula shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Skipper, I found no trace of her," she said. "I followed the tornado's path back and fourth several times over, flying from different heights each time, but couldn't locate your otter friend. I even asked a few of my friends to fly with me for a while, but none of them came up with anything."

"Well, I appreciate your efforts," Skipper then said. "I'm going to continue to search for Marlene myself; I won't ever give up on her. But in the meantime, I'd appreciate if you could help me with one more favor."

"Go ahead," Paula prompted.

"Well, I'd like to try to get a message back home to the rest of my crew in New York," Skipper replied.

Paula shook her head.

"Skipper, you seem like a decent guy, but I can't fly all the way to the East Coast for you; it's just not practical," she said. "I'm needed here. I have a family of my own that I need to tend to. I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean fly it to New York," Skipper responded. "I meant help relay the message back to the Big Apple. You see, if you fly even just 10 miles east and pass the message on to another bird, that bird can fly with it 10 more miles east and give it to someone else. Eventually, at the end of the chain, my message will reach New York."

"I can do that," Paula replied. "What's your message?"

Skipper thought it over for a minute and then gave Paula the following communication:

"_An urgent message to the Central Park Zoo Penguin Unit from Skipper: Marlene and I never made it to our scheduled stop in Utah and crashed in the Colorado wilderness on February 21. Exact location unknown. Ejected from plane without injuries, but have since become separated from Marlene. Send help and prayers."_

"I'll get right on it," Paula replied. "I'll probably never see you again, so I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you for your service, ma'am," Skipper replied as he gave Paula a salute. "Godspeed."

And with that, Paula took off to relay the message to someone further east. She flew a total of 17 miles and passed the message on to a sparrow named Mario. From Mario, the message traveled on to a squirrel named Tom, and from Tom to a bald eagle named Gretchen. Gretchen carried the message across the state line and passed it along to JR, a prairie dog in Nebraska.

The message then continued to travel eastward from animal to animal, bird to bird, mammal to mammal, until it finally arrived several days later just one habitat away from its intended destination. Unfortunately, like in any schoolyard game of Telephone, the original message became so mangled as it passed from one recipient to another that the communication Julien received was barely anything more than a series of words:

"_Memo to Central Park Zoo from Scooter: Maureen and I enjoyed your egg salad; the coleslaw was wild. Expect jury duty to be perforated. Send an elf and a piano player."_

"OK, that mess just hurt my royal brain," Julien then responded to the seagull that had delivered him the message. "Be gone with you. Go fly away and learn how to speak proper French like the rest of us."

"Again, your majesty, this is America, not France," Maurice then corrected his king. "The language here is called English."

"English? That's preposterous, Maurice!" Julien objected. "Then what do they speak in England?"

Throughout the many days of the message's journey, Skipper and Marlene each pressed on alone. But each time the sun went down, a little bit more of their hope of ever reuniting faded with the sunlight. Each time darkness came, both began to fear that the other might be gone for good.

If only they knew they weren't far apart.


	7. High and Low

Five days after it had left New York City, the superblimp was approximately a day and a half behind schedule. Had everything gone flawlessly, Kowalski and crew would now be in Colorado executing the search phase of their operation. Instead, due to some power lines that were both high in voltage and in distance from the ground, they had been stuck in Western Kansas for the past two days with a non-flightworthy airship.

"Here's the hammer you asked for, compliments of Rico," Private said as he waddled up to Kowalski and handed him the requested tool.

"Thanks, Private," he replied as he took it and began to bang it on the frame of the superblimp.

"Well, I think we're making good progress," Private then said.

"I suppose," Kowalski responded without much emotion. "But I still can't tell how long it's going to take to get all the repairs done. It took 11 days to finish this thing back home with access to my lab and an abundance of materials to commandeer, so it could take close to the same to fix all the damage using only the resources that Rico has inside his stomach."

"Don't stress, Kowalski," Private said as he patted Kowalski on the back. "You've gotten us this far, haven't you? Skipper would be proud of the leadership you've shown lately – I know I am."

"Thanks, Private," Kowalski smiled. "I needed that."

Meanwhile, on the fifth day since the tornado, Skipper continued his search for Marlene. Though he had covered every square inch of the tornado damage path already, Skipper decided to give it one more thorough look before beginning to search in some other region. This morning, Skipper decided that he would rely heavily on his binoculars to search deep into the brush to the right and left of the path he followed.

At a hillside he had traveled up countless times, Skipper peered through his binoculars far and wide. Suddenly, a blurry brown object lying in the distant brush caught his attention. He gasped as he adjusted the focus to bring the object into optical clarity.

"Marlene," he sighed sadly as he brought the binoculars down, incorrectly believing that his friend had been killed. "Oh, Marlene."

He then let his binoculars fall from his grip as he placed his right flipper over his face and sat on the ground. He didn't even try to fight back the tears.

"All she wanted to do was go see her parents," he wept to himself. "Why couldn't I have held onto her a little tighter? Why couldn't I have died instead?"

After a while, Skipper prepared himself for the only thing left that he could do for Marlene: give her a proper and dignified burial. His heart was broken and he was overcome by grief, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Slowly, Skipper picked up his binoculars once again and peered through them at Marlene so that he could plot the best route over to retrieve her. What he saw next would result in a joyful double take.

"She's alive!" he shouted out loud as he noticed Marlene standing up through the binoculars. "Holy tuna on rye, it's a miracle!"

Quickly, Skipper reached for his bag, opened it, and pulled out his flare gun. He loaded it with a 12-gauge flare cartridge and fired it into the air, hoping Marlene would both hear it and see it so that she would know she had been spotted. Glancing again through the binoculars, Skipper saw that his plan had worked.

Leaving all his supplies behind to be retrieved later, Skipper then waddled down the hillside to the edge of a small pond which was located at the bottom. While walking around it would have been easier considering his broken left flipper, Marlene was on the other side and Skipper wanted to reach her as quickly as possible. Carefully, Skipper entered the water and began swimming his way across, using an irregular stroke with his right flipper to avoid swimming in circles.

Soon, Marlene spotted a dark object just under the water's surface coming in her direction. She was curious but guarded as to what it might be – she assumed it was an animal, but didn't yet know if it was friend or foe.

That determination wouldn't have to wait very long.

"Skipper!" she exclaimed, delightfully shocked, as she reached down to help him up from the water's edge.

As Skipper came to his feet, Marlene was just too overcome with emotion to say anything more. Instead, she wrapped her paws tightly around her friend and embraced him in a way that made their post-ejection seat hug seem pale in comparison. Skipper placed his good flipper around Marlene as well – there was just nothing that could compare to being back with a friend once thought dead.

"I thought I had lost you forever," Skipper said, the first to speak after a minute or two had passed.

"I was beginning to fear the same about you," Marlene replied. "It was an awful feeling. I don't ever want to feel it again."

"Me neither," Skipper replied, sniffling. "I'm a tough bird, but there are some things that even I can't handle."

"I don't think I've ever seen you cry before, Skipper," Marlene commented.

"Well, I guess there's a first for everything," he replied. "And I don't feel the least bit ashamed."

The two then continued their tearful embrace as they talked with each other about joy and sorrow. After a while, Marlene began to be aware that Skipper was only hugging her with one flipper, so she glanced down to notice the makeshift sling Skipper had his left flipper placed into.

"How bad are you hurt?" she asked, concerned, as she dipped her head briefly in the direction of Skipper's injury.

"Well, I broke it in two places when I landed from the tornado," Skipper replied. "I'll heal, in time."

"Doesn't this now make the third time you've broken your left flipper in your life?" Marlene asked.

"Fourth, actually," Skipper replied. "But no matter, I've never been much of a left-winger anyway."

Marlene chuckled, still holding Skipper all the while.

"So, how about you?" Skipper continued. "You seem to physically be all right, considering all that must have happened. Do you have any injuries?"

"Nothing broken, but I sprained my tail and got a decent case of whiplash in my neck from being carried and dropped by that twister," she replied. "Just a short time ago, both still bothered me quite a bit, but I've honestly been pain-free ever since we reunited. Either having you back causes a placebo effect or you should consider patenting yourself as a pain reliever because I feel better than ever right now."

"Happy to be of service," Skipper smiled.

As time went on, Skipper and Marlene talked with each other about their experiences over the past five days of separation. Marlene told Skipper about how she felt that his spirit was with her the first night alone; Skipper told Marlene about Paula and the chain message he had sent to New York. Eventually, as their conversation deepened, they began to stroll away from the edge of the pond where they had reunited.

"So, where to, Skipper?" Marlene soon asked. "You're still on point, you know."

"Well, I'm thinking now that we should head back to where we so recently left," Skipper replied.

"The crash site?" Marlene wondered.

"Affirmative," Skipper replied. "With that message I sent to New York, the boys should come looking for us soon, so I think it would help to stay in one place. No more adventures for us – at least not on this trip."

And so, after first stopping to retrieve Skipper's bag, the two began their journey back to the place they had thought best to leave just five days earlier. Aided by his airplane compass and his gut instincts, Skipper led the way on the hours-long walk through the Colorado forest. Comforted by being back in each other's company, the walk seemed miles shorter than it really was.

As evening came, Skipper and Marlene arrived at their destination. It was both a relief and a nightmare to have returned to such a place; everything that had happened there was truly a mixed bag.

Not long after arriving, Skipper set up the survival tent once again. Although it was much earlier than the time they would normally go to bed back home, both Skipper and Marlene were quite tired and soon decided to call it a night. Moments later, they crawled into the tent one behind the other.

"You know, it feels so good to be inside a tent again," Marlene said as she sighed a relaxed, content sigh.

"I concur," Skipper agreed.

"What do you mean, Skipper?" Marlene wondered. "You had this tent with you in your pack."

"Yeah, that's exactly where I had it," Skipper continued. "I carried it with me wherever I went, but not once did I sleep in it. I wasn't going to afford myself some luxury while you were out in the open. Each night that you slept on the ground, I was doing the same."

"I gotta admit, that's pretty noble, Skipper," Marlene responded. "It shows you care. It's nice."

"There's more to me than meets the eye, I guess," Skipper replied. "But don't go thinking I've gotten too soft – my innermost thoughts and feelings are still overwhelmingly classified. At least for right now and the foreseeable future."

"That's OK, Skipper, I'm not going anywhere," Marlene responded.

"What was that?" Skipper wondered.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Marlene replied, blushing slightly. "I meant to say that we should probably think about sleep. It's been a long couple of days, you know."

"Indeed," Skipper agreed as he yawned. "Nighty-night."

And so Skipper and Marlene once again shut their eyes to allow the Sandman to do his work. Moments later, both were under his spell.

When morning came, the two soon got back to their old routine. After a drink and a shower at the natural spring, it was off to the wild mint plants for breakfast.

"You know, Skipper, it's good to be back, but I think I'm starting to get tired of all this mint," Marlene said after she had chewed and swallowed her most recent piece. "I wish there was something else out there to add a bit of variety in my life."

"Yeah, I could go for some fish about now myself," Skipper agreed. "Maybe salmon, maybe tuna, maybe snapper. Heck, even some Swedish Fish would be a nice change. But beggars can't be choosers; we've got to make due with what we've got."

"Well, maybe if we looked around a little more we might find something different," Marlene continued. "Come on, Skipper, what do you say?"

"All right," Skipper replied. "We'll head in a little deeper and see if Mother Nature will have left us any treats. She's usually a pretty good cook."

The two then walked beyond the wild mint patch that had long sustained them and searched left and right for something else that they could eat.

"Hey, look what I found, Marlene," Skipper chuckled as he pointed at a three-leaved green plant a short distance away. "It's one of those 'organic moisturizer' plants you found last summer."

"Yeah, I'm sorry again about the whole poison ivy thing; I didn't know," Marlene replied. "Though now that I think about it, don't you still owe me an apology for believing that I was spreading cooties throughout the zoo?"

"Sure do," Skipper replied. "But not until your birthday, remember? You'll get it on March 26."

Skipper and Marlene then continued their hunt until Marlene soon spotted a plant with red berries.

"Berries could be fun," she said as she plucked a few off and placed them in her paw, handing Skipper a few as well. "Can we eat these?"

Skipper looked the fruits over, sniffed them, and then licked the outside of one before proceeding to eat it.

"Yes," he then responded. "I may not be as good a botanist as Kowalski might be, but I can tell you that these are pin cherries. They're not berries, but the fruits are edible. And tasty, too."

"Good," Marlene replied as she quickly downed five of them and proceeded to pluck off more.

After eating three more, Marlene felt warm all of a sudden and began to break out in a sweat. Seconds later, she felt a terrible pain in her stomach.

"Ugh," she groaned as she placed a paw to her stomach and hiccupped.

"You OK there, Marlene?" Skipper asked.

"I think those cherries are trying to come back up on me," she replied. "Honestly, I don't feel well at all."

Skipper then placed his good flipper on Marlene's back.

"Relax and try to think about something else," he said. "Close your eyes, breathe slowly, and–"

But that was all he was able to say before Marlene tilted her head downward and lost her breakfast on the ground. It happened so quickly that she was unable to turn herself away from Skipper in time, resulting in some of the upchucked material finding its way onto Skipper's right side.

"I'm sorry," Marlene apologized. "It just happened so fast I couldn't–"

"Marlene, I can wash my feathers," Skipper stated. "The only thing that matters is that you are feeling OK."

"Thanks," Marlene smiled weakly. "I really hate throwing up."

"I hear you," Skipper agreed. "How Rico does it with objects and without a care in the world I'll never understand. It's just clockwork with that guy."

"Hey, Skipper, I think I might–" Marlene then began, her words ending as she collapsed into Skipper before falling to the ground.

"Marlene!" Skipper gasped as he dove to the ground to be with her and began to support her head with his good flipper. "Marlene, please tell me what's wrong."

"I must be allergic to those cherries I ate," Marlene struggled to reply as she began convulsing. "Skipper, I can't breathe!"

"Don't you worry, Marlene, I'll get you through this," Skipper responded. "You cheated death twice already, and for the love of God, you will again."

"I'm not a cat, Skipper, I don't get nine lives," Marlene wheezed as her throat became even more constricted and a tear formed in her eye. "Oh, Skipper, I love–"

She was unable to complete what she thought might be her final words, however, for at that moment Skipper placed his beak to Marlene's mouth and forced air into her. The severe tightness of her airway made providing much of it difficult, but Skipper was determined that he would not lose her.

After around a minute of giving Marlene beak-to-mouth, however, Skipper realized that his method was not as efficient as it needed to be and was perhaps just prolonging the inevitable. He realized that the only way to keep Marlene alive was to ensure a clear passage for air to flow into Marlene's lungs, and this wasn't happening with her throat continuing to constrict as a symptom of anaphylactic shock.

Then suddenly, Skipper had a thought. Perhaps all those episodes of _Rescue 911_ he had watched during the '90s had finally paid off. He breathed two more breaths into Marlene and then stood up.

"I'll be right back," he informed her as he took off running toward the plane wreckage a short distance away. "Please, God, give me something I can use."

When he arrived at the wreckage – or at least at the largest pile in the strewn array of it – Skipper began digging through the debris to find something suitable to help Marlene with. In his search, he soon found a severed hydraulics hose which, because of its condition, was now devoid of its oil.

"Yes!" he exclaimed as he grabbed onto it and yanked it away from whatever it was connected to, yielding a length of about two feet.

As he rushed with the hose back over to Marlene, Skipper blew into it to be entirely sure it was clear of any remnants of oil or any other contaminants. When he reached her, he once again got down on the ground to tend to her. He blew another few breaths into her before he spoke.

"Trust my judgment here, OK?" he said quickly. "This isn't going to be pleasant, but it has to be done. Now open your mouth as wide as you can for me. You can close your eyes if you want to."

Marlene opened her mouth, but chose to keep her eyes open and focused on Skipper. She was absolutely terrified inside, yet at the same time completely calm, trusting Skipper with every fiber of her being. Carefully, Skipper then inserted the hydraulics hose into Marlene's throat, making out of it an improvised version of an endotracheal tube.

To Marlene, it felt like she was choking on a pinecone as she gagged on the intrusion, but Skipper couldn't stop until he got the tube into her airway. Somehow, perhaps with the Devine guiding his steady flipper, Skipper managed to safely and accurately work the tube to a suitable depth in Marlene's trachea with minimum difficulty for either of them.

"OK, Marlene, the worst is over," Skipper then said. "Now slowly try to take a breath through the tube. If you can't, raise a paw to let me know."

Marlene struggled for a few seconds, but could not draw any air into her body. Her lungs were just too constricted and inflamed and her body too weak. She lifted a paw in defeat.

Skipper then took the other end of the hydraulics hose into his mouth and exhaled into it, transferring air into Marlene's lungs as a sort of makeshift ventilator. He did this several times before stopping for a moment to speak to her.

"I'm going to be breathing for you like this for a while," he said. "Once your body gets past its allergic reaction, things should begin to return to normal. I'm not sure how long that might take, but stay calm and know that I will get you through this. I promise you that."

Skipper continued fulfilling Marlene's respiratory functions for the next few hours. Eventually, once the severity of her allergic reaction began to fall from its peak, Marlene became able to breathe again on her own through the hydraulics hose. Skipper soon decided that it was probably now safe to remove it.

"All right, Marlene, hold your breath," Skipper said as he began to gently work the hose out. "Almost there, almost there, got it."

"Hi, Skipper," Marlene then whispered, her voice understandably hoarse from all that had transpired. "Thanks."

"Rest your voice, Marlene," Skipper said as he patted her on the shoulder.

A short while later, Skipper escorted Marlene over to the spring for a much-needed drink of water. After drinking several soothing ounces, she sat down on the ground next to it and began to talk with him.

"Skipper, I have two major emotions running through my head right now," she said. "The first is a happy blend of joy, trust, and relief because you saved me. The other is a paralyzing fear because I know that I wouldn't have been able to save you."

"You've been through a lot, Marlene; I can understand how you might feel at two different ends of the spectrum," Skipper replied. "But you shouldn't dwell on fear; you're much too intelligent for that."

"But I couldn't have saved you," Marlene continued. "It breaks my heart to know that I wouldn't have known what to do."

"Marlene, you can't prepare for everything in life – sometimes you just have to improvise," Skipper responded. "If some perilous situation was to ever befall on some poor soul and you could do something about it, I'm confident that you would react to the best of your ability. If that person had even the slightest chance of surviving, they would."

"You really think so?" Marlene asked.

"Marlene, I know you better than you know yourself," Skipper replied. "And not just because I've run a background check on you."

"Come again?" Marlene inquired.

"No, it's cool," Skipper replied. "The boys and I run routine checks on everyone indiscriminately. Did you know that Alice has unpaid parking tickets?"

"Eh, I wouldn't have put it past her," Marlene shrugged. "But anyway, thank you for trying to make me feel better and for saving my life. I'll never be able to repay you for all that you've done."

"All in a day's work, Marlene," Skipper replied. "All in a day's work."

Eventually, Skipper and Marlene made their way back to their tent a short distance away. They passed the hours away with games of 20 Questions, charades, and tic-tac-toe in the dirt. After all was said and done, it was yet another day of highs and lows. But it was another day together nonetheless.

As night came, both Skipper and Marlene exchanged their usual goodnights and then closed their eyes for sleep. After about a minute of silence, however, Skipper reopened his as he looked over at Marlene beside him and smiled. After all that had happened that day, Skipper thought now might be the perfect time to ask her about something that had long been on his mind.

"Hey, Marlene, can I ask you something?" he asked in a whisper.

"Of course," Marlene replied.

"Do you know that you've been placing your paw on my side in your sleep each night that we've shared a tent together?" he asked.

"Oh my goodness!" Marlene responded, a little embarrassed. "I never knew I did that. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Skipper replied. "In fact, why wait for sleep? Go ahead and do it right now."

"You don't mind?" Marlene asked. "You don't think that it's a little weird?"

"Because it's you, Marlene, not at all," Skipper replied.

Marlene smiled and then placed a paw on Skipper. The two were then silent once again for a few moments until Marlene broke the silence.

"You know, Skipper, I might think to ask you the same thing," she said.

"Huh?" Skipper replied.

"You've been putting a flipper on me for many nights as well," she replied. "It used to be your left one, but it was obviously your right one last night."

"Really?" he asked. "I never knew that either. I'll sleep on top of it from now on to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

"Now that would be a shame," Marlene replied.

"Huh?" Skipper wondered.

"I find it rather comforting and reassuring, actually," she responded. "I like it. In fact, I wouldn't mind you doing it right now if you wanted to."

"Marlene, if we've both been aware of each other's appendage being on us at night for so long, how come neither one of us was ever aware that we were doing it to the other?" he asked as he placed his good flipper on Marlene.

"I don't know, Skipper," she answered. "All I know is that I'm going to miss it when we get back to New York."

"You and me both," Skipper replied. "Goodnight."


	8. Predator

Hard work usually pays off. After eight days of toiling around the clock, the superblimp was just hours away from taking to the sky yet again. All that was left to do were a few small tasks, such as replacing some helium that had leaked during the tangle with the power lines and performing a few safety checks.

"Folks, I think we've done it," Kowalski said to the others. "We've shown that if we are willing to invest the sweat and elbow grease, we will be paid a great dividend."

"I agree with that sentiment, Kowalski," Private concurred, "even though we don't sweat or have elbows, of course."

"Well, you're correct on the first count, Private," Kowalski responded. "But we actually _do_ have elbows. The bones which form the joint in flippers are the _humerus_, the _radius_, and the _ulna_, as well as a sesamoid bone, which humans lack in their elbows. Humans do have sesamoids in their knees, their hands …"

Rico gestured a flipper close to Kowalski's face as he looked toward Private, as if to ask if it would be appropriate to slap Kowalski for showing off again.

"It won't have any effect, Rico," Private responded as he shook his head. "But we should probably ask him to add another quarter to the showoff jar. We're almost halfway to being able to buy Skipper that Cadillac he liked for Christmas."

But before such a request could be made, the satellite phone inside the superblimp rang. Kowalski quickly snapped out of his daze and picked it up on the second ring.

"Lynne, I was just about to call to give you and Ray another update," Kowalski said after the otter on the other end greeted him. "I'm happy to tell you that the repairs to the superblimp are 99.327 percent complete. We should be able to leave where we're at sometime this evening."

"That's great news," Lynne replied. "Then I guess tomorrow's the big day. I'll probably be up all night thinking about it."

"I know the feeling," Kowalski said as he yawned, having pulled another all-nighter. "But I still believe that this whole situation will have a happy conclusion. Except for what happened to Manfredi and Johnson, our unit has pretty much been all smiles."

"Manfredi and Johnson?" Lynne wondered.

"Yeah, I'm probably not helping by mentioning them," Kowalski continued. "It's a long story. Skipper could probably tell it better than I could. But anyway, we'll call you as soon as we locate Marlene and Skipper."

"Don't forget about that hug, Kowalski," Lynne then said. "Marlene means the world to us, and we love her."

"I'll make sure your affections are passed on," Kowalski replied. "I promise."

"OK," Lynne replied after a long sigh. "Take care of yourself. Good luck."

"Thank you, ma'am," Kowalski said. "Goodbye."

"Bye," Lynne said as they both hung up their phones.

Meanwhile, in the next state over, Skipper and Marlene were making their way back to their tent after their latest trip over to the spring for a drink. Although they were out in the wilderness, a sudden rustling in the brush a few minutes away from "home" suggested that they were not alone.

"Skipper, did you hear that sound?" Marlene asked as she pointed in the direction the noise had come from. "What do you think it was?"

"Probably just a chipmunk or something," Skipper replied as he waddled closer to the brush to try to confirm his suspicions. "Alvin? Theodore? Come out, come out, wherever you are."

It wasn't long before Skipper spotted the source of the rustling a short distance away. Unfortunately, a friendly little chipmunk was far from the creature that had actually been responsible.

"Marlene, let's quickly and quietly get out of the area for a while," he said as he began backing away from his discovery. "We've got us a black bear here."

"A _what_?" Marlene asked, shocked.

"A black–"

_Roar!_

Suddenly, the bear turned around and spotted Skipper. This was not good.

"Marlene, get out of here now!" Skipper yelled.

But she didn't move a muscle. She was scared stiff.

"Marlene!" Skipper yelled again as he dropped his bag and ran. "We've got to go!"

Marlene then got the message and began to run with Skipper as quickly as possible away from where the bear was. Unfortunately, the bear soon gave chase – nothing captured its attention like a moving target.

Although they ran as hard and as fast as they could, the speed of a penguin and an otter was no match for an enormous black bear. The beast soon caught up to them and then cut in front of them – they were trapped.

"Skipper, what do we do?" Marlene panicked.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Skipper responded as he looked up at the bear before him and began to plead. "You know, there's no good reason to hurt us, big fella. We're different, but aren't we all just animals going about this thing called life? I'm probably going to wash my beak out with soap later for saying this, but give peace a chance."

The bear didn't listen, however. It wasn't about to pass up a free meal because of some contrived rhetoric. Suddenly, it lunged forward at Marlene. It was time to eat.

"Look out!" Skipper yelled as he shoved Marlene out of the way of the bear's growling jaws a split-second before she would have been bitten.

From the ground, Marlene turned her head to see that her hero was now the one in imminent danger.

"Skipper, right behind–" she warned, but it was already too late. "Skipper! Skipper!"

The bear had picked him up by the back of the neck and was thrashing him about violently. Skipper was powerless against the mighty creature as its teeth tore into him deeper and deeper.

This would not stand with Marlene. She knew she had to do something if there was any chance left for Skipper. Quickly, she ran over to where Skipper's bag had been dropped and retrieved his flare gun, which Skipper just so happened to have shown her earlier that morning when she had asked how it worked, and loaded it with a cartridge. She carried it with her as she ran back to the scene of the arrack.

She pulled the hammer back. She sighted the bear. She aimed for the eyes.

"Nobody ever hurts Skipper!" she declared as the flare shot out and struck the bear in the face, singeing its fur if not blinding it for life.

The plan worked. The bear released its grip on Skipper and ran off growling in pain into the woods. Marlene then rushed over to where Skipper lay in a pool of blood.

"Nice shot, Marlene," he said weakly. "I'm proud of you. Tell everybody that I'm going to miss them, OK? Even Julien."

"Don't you dare even think about dying on me, Skipper," Marlene declared as she worked to staunch the bleeding from Skipper's neck with a paw. "And that's an order."

Skipper smiled.

"I admire your optimism and enthusiasm, but I've lost a lot of blood," he said.

"I know that," Marlene responded. "But you still have enough to be alive with me right now, and I'm not going to let you lose any more even if I have to hold onto you for days. You're down but you're not out, Skipper. I know in my heart that you're going to be OK as long as you don't give up hope."

She then gave Skipper a kiss on the cheek.

"So don't give up hope," she said, "because I will never, ever give up on you."

"Thank you," Skipper replied as he gently touched Marlene's face with his good flipper. "I only hope I don't let you down."

Marlene then glanced down at the cloth material that Skipper had fashioned his left flipper sling out of.

"We have to make a little change in priority," she said. "I don't want to cause you any extra pain, but I need the cloth to help stop your bleeding. I can't just get another piece from your bag because I can't let go of you for even a moment, so I have no choice but to use the piece I've got before me."

With one paw dedicated to Skipper's most major wound, Marlene used her free paw and her teeth to remove the sling from Skipper's left flipper. She did so as gently as possible so as not to jostle Skipper's broken bones to cause him any more pain.

"Here, this should help stop the bleeding more than my paw alone can, though I'm still not letting up on the pressure anytime soon," Marlene said as she placed the cloth material over Skipper's neck wound and pressed down on it. "Oh, Skipper, you feel so cold."

"I am cold," Skipper replied. "I wouldn't mind having another layer of feathers right about now to tell you the truth."

Marlene wasn't sure what the typical body temperature of a penguin was supposed to be, but she knew that Skipper was several degrees below it. He desperately needed something to warm him up a bit: a blanket, a fire – perhaps both. But she knew she just couldn't leave him alone to do any of that.

"Marlene, what are you doing?" Skipper asked as he felt himself being lifted off the ground. "I may be all muscle, but I'm still heavier than I look."

"Skipper, I could lift Burt right now if it would save your life," Marlene replied as she picked up Skipper and carried him. "I'm going to get you warmed up, I promise."

Carefully, Marlene carried Skipper in the direction of where his bag had been left and picked it up using her teeth. She then walked a few minutes over to where the ejection seat from the plane now lay and placed Skipper down right next to it. Next, Marlene grabbed onto the ejection seat's parachute and wrapped it around Skipper, securing him in a cozy, makeshift blanket.

"How's that, Skipper?" she asked as she wrapped another layer over him.

"It's the warmest blanket I've ever had," Skipper replied. "Thank you, Marlene."

Marlene then got down on the ground beside him and, while still applying pressure to Skipper's wound, wrapped her free paw around his body to provide him additional warmth.

"Skipper, I'm so sorry I ever got you involved in all this," she then said. "If I had never asked for your help to get to California, you wouldn't be like this right now."

"Marlene, don't blame yourself," Skipper stated. "The decision to fly you to California was mine and mine alone. Neither one of us could have ever predicted that things would turn out the way they did."

"I know, but I still feel responsible," Marlene continued. "I may not be going wild when I leave the zoo anymore, but it seems bad luck still follows me whenever I venture away from where I belong."

"Marlene, if bad luck was really following you, we'd be having this conversation up in the sky right now beside Washington and Johnson," Skipper replied.

"Don't you mean _Manfredi_ and Johnson?" Marlene wondered.

"No, this time I was actually referring to George Washington and Andrew Johnson, but either way we'd be dead," Skipper responded. "The point I'm trying to make is that you are not some bringer of bad luck. If anything, you're actually a good luck charm; if it hadn't been for you, I'd be halfway to a bear's small intestine by now. He'd likely have a wicked case of indigestion, mind you, but that's beside the point."

"Oh, Skipper, you don't ever let a bad situation get under your skin, do you?" Marlene smiled slightly.

"It's hard to with all my feathers," Skipper replied.

As time went on, Marlene continued to take care of Skipper. Eventually, his bleeding slowed to the point where it no longer required constant pressure, with additional cloth wrapped around Skipper's neck taking the place of Marlene's paw. After a while, Marlene was able to rip away the portion of parachute Skipper was wrapped in from the unused portion still attached to the ejection seat and carried him into the tent before nightfall.

"Well, it's that time again," she said. "Rest will be good for you tonight."

"Actually, to be honest, I'm a little afraid to go to sleep," Skipper responded. "I may have been talking with you all this time you've been helping me, but I still feel weak. I've lost a lot of blood – what if I go into shock and never wake up? I'd rather remain conscious; I don't think I should risk it tonight."

"But you need sleep, Skipper," Marlene responded. "It's the only way your body can start to get its strength back and work to replace lost blood."

"Yeah, I know sleep is important," Skipper continued, "but I just can't risk the possibility of biting the big one while doing it."

Marlene then had a thought.

"I trust you with my life, Skipper," she said, "do you trust me with yours?"

"My trust is earned, never given," Skipper replied. "But you are one of the four who have it. Yes."

"I'm honored," Marlene replied, continuing along. "Go to sleep, Skipper, and I will watch over you. I'll be the one to stay awake tonight. If I notice you having even the slightest bit of trouble, I will wake you up and/or take any steps necessary to make sure you are all right. I promise."

"OK, Marlene," Skipper agreed. "I will put my life in your paws."

And with Marlene by his side, Skipper closed his eyes. A short while later, Marlene noticed a wide grin across his face.

"Dreaming about fighting the hippies again, aren't you?" she remarked to herself. "Well, at least you _look_ peaceful when you're asleep. Rest easy, Skipper, and I'll see you in the morning."


	9. Brand New Day

Just as Marlene had expected him to, Skipper made it through the night without any cause for alarm. As the sunlight entered the tent the morning after Skipper's attack, he slowly opened his eyes to find Marlene smiling at him.

"Good morning, Skipper," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"You know, Marlene, I've got to be honest," he began, "I think I've just had the best sleep I've had in years. Having you watch over me was very reassuring; knowing that the weight of the world was off my shoulders for one night I found to be a much-needed relief."

"Glad to hear that," Marlene replied. "I think you're looking much better, too."

"I'm proud of you," Skipper added. "I told you that you'd be able to handle yourself if you were ever thrust into helping someone in peril. That someone just happened to be me."

"Thanks," Marlene smiled as she gave Skipper a pat on the head.

Suddenly, off in the distance, Marlene thought she detected the sound of a motor.

"Skipper, do you hear that?" she asked. "It sounds like some sort of motor."

"I hear it, too," Skipper replied. "It sounds like it's getting closer. Go see if you can find out where it's coming from, but stay safe."

Marlene then made her way out of the tent and looked in all directions around her, but could not yet spot the source of the noise. She then looked up and was startled by what she saw moving closer in the sky.

"Kowalski was right about superblimps," she remarked as her jaw dropped.

Quickly, Marlene ran back into the tent.

"Skipper! Skipper! Kowalski was right!" she exclaimed. "After all we've been through, superblimp madmen have come to finish us off!"

"Superblimp madmen?" Skipper questioned. "Are you sure, Marlene? I'm glad we're close, but maybe you've been hanging around me a little too much. So much so that some of my conspiratorial bad habits have begun to rub off on you."

Then suddenly, a completely different possibility came to him.

"What if he built the thing himself?" he wondered out loud. "Yes, that's it!"

"What?" Marlene asked.

"That's no madman – save for inventing Jiggles, perhaps," Skipper stated. "That _is_ Kowalski!"

"We're saved!" Marlene shouted.

"Quick, Marlene, grab my flare gun and fire it to get Kowalski's attention," Skipper said. "Go! Go! Go!"

Marlene then retrieved the signaling device from Skipper's bag, loaded it, and ran back outside the tent. She then fired it in the direction of the approaching airship. It was a good thing that Skipper had procured the deluxe model of flare gun that came with four cartridges; the one Marlene had just fired was the third flare discharged during the course of their whole ordeal.

"There she is – I see Marlene!" Private said as he peered through a pair of binoculars inside the cabin of the superblimp. "We've done it!"

"Yes!" Kowalski cheered. "Score another victory for my gut and for the science of aeronautics."

Once he spotted a suitable location, Kowalski began the delicate process of landing the superblimp. It involved both the use of propellers to counteract the lift of the helium inside the envelope as well as the controlled release of some of the lighter-than-air gas itself.

Once on the ground, Rico and Private exited the airship and anchored it to nearby trees that were sturdy enough to prevent the dirigible from lifting off without them. Kowalski was then able to exit from the craft himself. As he did so, something brown and furry slammed into him.

"Kowalski!" Marlene stated with joy as she hugged the tall scientist. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"It's good to see you, too, Marlene," Kowalski smiled as he hugged her back. "It's good to see you, too."

"Marlene!" Private exclaimed as he waddled over to hug her as well. "We've missed you so much!"

"Yup," Rico agreed. "Hooray!"

"Aww," Marlene said as she embraced the other two, "Private, Rico, I've missed you guys, too."

The four continued to celebrate for a moment until they eventually let go of each other. Kowalski then remembered something important.

"Those hugs were from us," he said as he hugged Marlene once again, "but this one is from your parents by proxy. I promised that I'd deliver it and let you know that they love you very much."

"Thanks, Kowalski," Marlene said. "I wish I could be with them right now, but a long-distance hug is the next best thing."

Although he had been caught up with the others in the joyful celebration of seeing Marlene again, the absence of a fifth celebratory participant suddenly struck Private like a 10-pound hammer.

"Marlene, where's Skipper?" he asked, his voice suddenly full of worry. "He didn't … he didn't–"

"Don't worry, Private, Skipper is OK," Marlene replied. "But he was hurt pretty badly yesterday. A bear attacked him."

"Oh dear," Private said, shocked, as Kowalski and Rico gasped at the news. "How bad is _badly_?"

"I had never seen him so pale in my life, despite his white feathers," Marlene replied. "Honestly, he was probably about a minute away from St. Peter, but I was able to stop the bleeding from progressing any further, thank God. He was weak, but I knew in my heart that Skipper would live as long as he didn't give up hope. And he never did."

"Well, we better go see him," Kowalski replied. "Where is he?"

"He's inside the survival tent we've been taking shelter in," Marlene answered. "Come on, follow me. I know he can't wait to see you guys again either."

Marlene then led the penguin group a short distance away from their landing site to where the tent was located. Since the tent was quite small, only one penguin could really enter it at a time to see Skipper, so Kowalski went first.

"Kowalski!" Skipper smiled. "Long time no see."

Kowalski then saluted his leader. Skipper returned the gesture.

"It's a good thing that salutes are rendered with the right appendage, seeing as my left one is currently out of order," Skipper then said, pointing to his left flipper inside the new sling Marlene had made for him during the night. "So, when did you get my message?"

"Message?" Kowalski wondered. "We never received any type of communication. After we discovered that you and Marlene had crashed, we soon went to work on this superblimp I had once secretly started so we could fly out here to search for you two. It took 11 days to finish, and we projected three and a half days of flight time to get here. That was until we had a little setback in Kansas."

"Tell me about it," Skipper remarked. "Marlene and I have had more than our share of setbacks, too. The stuff we've been through these past few weeks could fill the pages of a novel from cover to cover. Or would at least make for 22,000 words or so of carefully developed fan fiction."

"Marlene told me about the bear attack," Kowalski responded. "How are you feeling?"

"Grateful to have someone like Marlene by my side," Skipper replied. "She's the reason why you're visiting me in a tent right now instead of at my graveside. I don't care if she's only a civilian, I'm awarding her a medal when we get home."

"I'll pencil in a commendation ceremony on our schedule right away, sir," Kowalski responded. "In the meantime, I should probably examine your injuries."

"Very well, but rub your flippers together a little first to build up some friction," Skipper stated. "Cold hands are just one of the many reasons why I can't stand going to see the vet."

Kowalski then rubbed his flippers together as requested, warming them up. He then proceeded to look at all of Skipper's injuries and performed a few basic diagnostics using his flippers.

"So, what's the verdict, doc?" Skipper asked.

"You're lucky, but you'll recover fully," Kowalski replied. "You're correct in crediting Marlene with saving your life. But there is one thing you would still benefit a lot from right now."

"What would that be?" Skipper asked.

"A cup of blood would put some pep in your step," Kowalski replied.

"Sorry, Kowalski, but I don't go for that vampire stuff," Skipper stated. "I'm more into coffee."

"Not to drink, sir," Kowalski chuckled. "What I mean is a blood transfusion. We are both of the same avian blood group, and I would be more than willing to donate."

"I'd rather you didn't," Skipper opined.

"Well, Rico and Private are also compatible," Kowalski continued along. "So if you don't want blood from me, I could ask one of them."

Skipper sighed.

"Kowalski, it's not you, it's the procedure," he stated. "You know that needles are high on my enemies list, surpassed only by terrorists and Dr. Blowhole."

"I understand your position, sir; I don't find the idea of being poked with something pointy particularly enjoyable either," Kowalski replied. "But unlike the vet, I am willing to take as long as may be necessary to effectuate the procedure with as little discomfort as possible."

Skipper still looked unconvinced. He may have willingly taken a needle once to protect Private, but might not be so willing when no one else's health was on the line but his own. Kowalski needed to change tactics.

"Skipper, I know Marlene would want you to do this," he said. "You wouldn't want to let her down, would you?"

"No," Skipper whispered. "All right, but please be sure to do everything gently. I know that you wouldn't ever intend to hurt me, but I've seen your attempts at trying to make pain a non-issue before. Pain-elimination helmet ring a bell? Epic fail there."

"You have my assurances that I will get things right this time," Kowalski replied. "In the meantime, I'm sure that Private and Rico would like to say hello to you, too."

Kowalski then exited the tent and waddled over to Private, Rico, and Marlene outside. He told them of his examination of Skipper and of the blood transfusion he was going to perform. He then laid out the game plan for moving forward: Once Skipper was in good enough form to leave, they would all return home to New York via the superblimp.

Once Kowalski completed his briefing, Private made his way into the tent to reunite with his commanding officer.

"Skipper!" he smiled as he crawled in. "I'm going to hug you and I'm not taking no for an answer."

Private then executed said action.

"Not to worry, Private," Skipper said as he patted Private on the back, "today I don't mind at all. Just don't make a habit of it."

"I was so worried," Private continued. "I'm so glad that things didn't turn out tragic."

"Well, to tell you the truth, Marlene and I did suffer one difficult loss when our plane crashed," Skipper replied. "About half the Peanut Butter Winkies you gave us perished in the flames, never to grace our taste buds."

"I'm glad you haven't lost your sense of humor," Private smiled. "But guess what, Skipper? I've got plenty of Winkies onboard the superblimp. And they've come out with two new flavors!"

"Get out!" Skipper remarked. "Wow, I really have been gone a long time."

"Far too long, sir," Private said. "Hey, let me give Rico a chance to see you, and I'll see you again in a bit. I think I better get back to the superblimp anyway, seeing as someone still needs to let Marlene's parents know that you and Marlene are all right."

Skipper nodded and Private then exited the structure. Half a second later, another flightless bird entered.

"Fish!" Rico sang in his operatic voice as he entered the tent holding a can of sardines.

He then used his beak as a can opener and then handed the can to Skipper.

"Rico, buddy, you have my gratitude," Skipper replied as he placed a flipperful of fish into his mouth. "I haven't had fish in so long that this is like tasting my very first one all over again. Except this time it's not regurgitated and covered in my mother's saliva."

Rico, even if he could speak more than a mumble, had no response.

"Hey, Rico, I hope you gave some sardines to Marlene, too," Skipper then said. "She's gone through fish withdrawal along with me and could sure use some."

"Yup," Rico replied. "Done."

"Good man," Skipper praised. "Well, it's great to see you again, Rico. Do me a favor and go fetch Kowalski so I can get this whole blood transfusion thing over with. The sooner the better."

"Uh-huh," Rico nodded and then exited the tent.

A few minutes later, Kowalski entered again carrying some medical supplies, compliments of Rico's stomach.

"Kowalski, is all that stuff sanitary?" Skipper asked as he watched a few drops of Rico's digestive juices fall from an IV bag.

"Not to worry, Skipper," Kowalski responded, "Rico's stomach is naturally antimicrobial."

Skipper just stared at him, doubting.

"Yeah, I really don't know," Kowalski then conceded with a sigh. "But in all the years he's been our storage vessel, he has never passed along any communicable diseases."

"Well, I guess that has to count for something," Skipper stated. "All right, let's get this show on the road."

"Very well," Kowalski said. "We're going to do this quick and easy. Even though I have never done a blood transfusion before, how hard can transferring life-sustaining fluid from one being into another using equipment intended for human usage without possessing even a smidge of formal medical training be?"

Kowalski then proceeded to disinfect a spot on his left flipper with an alcohol swab to prepare for donating the blood. Moments later, he took a deep breath as he inched the 16-gauge needle closer to where it was to pierce his flesh.

"And so I will now carefully– Sweet mother of subatomic particles! It hurts so– Only kidding," Kowalski chuckled. "It's really not that bad at all."

"Kowalski, are you trying to give me a heart attack on top of everything else I've suffered?" Skipper asked sarcastically.

"Sorry, sir," Kowalski apologized as his blood began to collect in the bag the needle eventually led to.

Shortly, the bag had acquired the amount that Kowalski wished to donate. It was now time to transfer the collection of plasma, cells, and platelets into Skipper's circulatory system. Before this could happen, Kowalski placed a fresh needle at the end of the line.

"You're going to place raw, untested, uninspected, still-warm blood into me and you stop to change the needle first?" Skipper wondered. "If you've got something, I'm still going to get it, you know."

"Clean needles are always medical protocol, sir, even if our situation soon negates it," Kowalski replied. "Besides, even prisons use sterile equipment when administering lethal injections. It's a strange world."

Moments later, the fresh needle was inserted into a vein in Skipper's right flipper. Had Kowalski been the zoo veterinarian, he would now be unconscious on the floor for ever daring to cross Skipper with a needle. However, Skipper would offer no resistance today.

Once all the blood had been transferred into Skipper's body, Kowalski carefully removed the needle.

"How are you feeling, sir?" he asked.

"The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side," Skipper replied.

"Come again?" Kowalski remarked, puzzled.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own," Skipper stated. "E=mc². When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve–"

"I don't believe it!" Kowalski then exclaimed. "Skipper, my blood just increased your IQ to a near genius level! How does it feel, my brainiac brethren?"

"It feels like I should ask Doris on a date," Skipper chuckled. "Just kidding. The whole egghead thing was an act, Kowalski – I just wanted to see the look on your face."

"Well, science is no laughing matter," Kowalski stated disappointedly. "But anyway, you do appear to be physically taking my blood well. You're getting your strength back far quicker than I would have expected, and I'm happy to see it. We can probably start heading back home this evening."

And several hours later, that's exactly what happened. As Kowalski, Rico, and Private prepped the superblimp for the return trip home, Marlene and Skipper stayed behind to spend a few final moments alone together. Benefiting greatly from the blood he had received from Kowalski, Skipper was back on his feet already, though he took his strides slowly not wanting to push his limits.

"It's hard to believe that our whole misadventure is almost over," Marlene said. "You know, except for all the scary things we faced and all the pain we experienced, I actually enjoyed spending this time together."

"Me, too," Skipper agreed. "And that feeling won't change once we leave this place. When we get home, we can still do things together, too. I want to play chess twice as often as we used to. I've got about a dozen missions in mind that you'd be the perfect partner for. And I want to race you in a swim across the harbor to the Statue of Liberty. Those are just a few of the many things we can do together."

"And maybe I could drive your car?" Marlene smiled.

"Drive?" Skipper chuckled. "Marlene, if you asked me, the way I feel right now I would _give_ you the car. I'd be glad to show you how it works."

After a short while more of talking, Private came up to them.

"Kowalski's ready to take off now," he said. "Skipper, I'm here to help you walk over to the superblimp if you need me."

Skipper shook his head.

"That's all right, Private," he said as he placed his right flipper around Marlene, "I've got Marlene."

Private nodded and then waddled away to return to the airship. Skipper and Marlene then followed a short distance behind.

Once they reached and boarded the superblimp, Kowalski was eager to know what Skipper thought of it.

"So, do you like the superblimp, sir?" he asked.

"It's an impressive airship, yes," Skipper replied. "Although to be honest, I would have expected a 'superblimp' to be a bit more super-sized. Something along the lines of the _Hindenburg_ pregnant with Goodyear blimp quintuplets."

"Sir, for me to build something that massive would take me until the next appearance of Halley's Comet," Kowalski responded. "This is a penguin-sized model."

"Ah," Skipper replied. "That makes sense."

Moments later, after Rico and Private had untied the superblimp from the trees it had been tethered to and climbed onboard themselves, it was time to begin on the journey back to New York. As the airship ascended into the air and began its travel east, the attention of all its occupants was focused straight ahead toward the distant place they all called home.

Two minutes later, however, Skipper alone found himself looking in the opposite direction. He thought for a moment about all the hardship he had suffered along with Marlene and of all the joy that would have been waiting for her in California if it hadn't been for one fateful strike of lightning. He then glanced over at Marlene and smiled. His mind was made up.

"Hey, Kowalski," Skipper said as he waddled up to his first lieutenant, "I'd like for us to take a little detour."

"What kind of a detour?" Kowalski asked.

"Do a 180°," Skipper replied. "We're going to California."

"But, sir, haven't you been through enough already?" Kowalski questioned. "I'm glad you're feeling better, but it is my medical opinion that you ought to take it easy for a while. We really shouldn't deviate from returning to New York."

"Kowalski, I may have some of your blood pumping through me right now, but I'm still your commanding officer," Skipper continued. "After everything that has happened to me, after everything that has happened to Marlene, I want something to finally go right. Marlene and I have suffered too much to go home empty-handed. I want to finish this journey the way it should have gone, with Marlene embracing the parents she hadn't seen in 12 years and me proud of myself for having some small role in their joyful celebration."

"Well, sir, California it is, then," Kowalski responded as he then began to execute a U-turn maneuver in the air. "And let me just say it is an honor to accept such a heartfelt order."

Skipper nodded and gave Kowalski a quick pat on the back. He then waddled over to talk to Marlene.

"Skipper, what's gone wrong?" she asked as he approached her. "Why have we turned around?"

"Marlene, nothing's gone wrong," Skipper smiled. "On the contrary: Something's finally going right."

"Skipper, what do you mean?" Marlene wondered.

"I mean that we're going to finally accomplish what we set out to do," Skipper continued. "We are going to California and you will hug your mother and you will hug your father and I will smile when you do. A freak bolt of lightning, a tornado, anaphylactic shock, and a bear attack all tried to claim victory over us, but we persevered and showed that we could get through anything if we did it together. Now's the time for us to give everything that was thrown at us one giant slap in the face."

"Skipper, you're the best," Marlene smiled as she took Skipper's right flipper in her paws. "But are you sure you're up to it?"

"I'll be fine, Marlene," Skipper replied. "In fact, I think a little vacation would do me some good. I think my body can recover a lot better if I don't have to spring into action at any given moment or put up with Ring-tail's unpredictability every day."

Skipper then paused for a moment.

"Besides, Marlene," he continued, "I'd do anything for you. You've helped me realize time and time again that one of my paranoid delusions isn't so true after all. A friend isn't necessarily an enemy who hasn't attacked yet; a friend can be much more. Of course, you are not my friend."

He then used his right flipper to pull her close to his side.

"I consider you so much more than that," he said. "In fact, there's only one term that could possibly describe what you are to me."

"And what would that be?" Marlene asked as she smiled.

"You're my Marlene," he answered. "And you're the best Marlene that I've ever had."

Marlene then wrapped a paw around Skipper and drew him close. From the front of the cabin, she looked with him at the beautiful display of color which spanned the sky. The sun was setting, but for them it was a brand new day.


	10. Epilogue: California at Last

Two days later, the superblimp arrived over Monterey, California. Marlene was elated.

"I think I see the aquarium!" she said with joy as she pointed toward the complex she had spotted off in the distance. "It _is_ the aquarium. I've never seen it from the sky before, but I'd know that place anywhere. I can't wait to see it again!"

"Well, you'll have to wait just a little longer, I'm afraid," Kowalski said. "With all the humans around, I just can't land the superblimp in the middle of a tourist attraction. We'll have to wait until nightfall to land when the aquarium is closed."

"It will only be a few more hours, Marlene, so don't be too disappointed," Skipper said. "Besides, we'll be here for two weeks, so that means you'll be able to celebrate your birthday with your parents."

"And with you," Marlene added.

"Yes, and with me," Skipper smiled.

The group then spent the next several hours sightseeing up and down the coastline, as well as doing a little fishing in the bay. The five were truly enjoying themselves as the hours passed and the sunlight waned.

At around 9 p.m., commotion was heard outside of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's otter habitat. There were thumps, bumps, and several unfamiliar male voices.

"Ray, what's going on out there?" Lynne turned to her husband and asked.

"I'll check it out," Ray said as he began to walk out of the habitat. "If I don't make it back, wait a few months before you remarry, OK?"

"Ray!" Lynne exclaimed as she chased after him. "I'm coming, too."

When the otter couple made it outside, they were shocked at what was before them.

"My word, it appears to be some sort of alien craft," Ray stated. "I don't believe my eyes."

Suddenly, climbing out from the strange-looking contraption, Marlene appeared.

"And I don't believe mine either," Lynne said with a smile. "Marlene! Marlene!"

"Mom!" Marlene exclaimed, seeing her mother running toward her, as she herself began running over.

They soon met in the middle.

"Oh, Marlene, I have missed you so much," Lynne said, crying, as she embraced her daughter for the first time in more than a decade. "I love you, Marlene."

"I love you, too, Mom," Marlene said as she held onto her mother. "I love you, too."

From behind, Marlene felt another pair of paws wrap around her.

"How's my favorite daughter doing?" Ray said as he gave Marlene a squeeze.

"I'm your only daughter, Daddy," Marlene replied with a smile as she wrapped one of her paws around him. "At least I think I still am."

Ray nodded.

"You remember how I used to tell you that as a kid?" he asked.

"You used to say it all the time," Marlene replied. "It's a memory that I've kept close to my heart – how could I forget?"

"You've grown a little," Lynne then commented. "But I could still pick you out of a lineup of 1,000 otters."

"Really?" Marlene asked.

"A mother will always know her own daughter," Lynne replied. "Besides, how many other otters have a lucky white foot?"

"Come on inside, sweetie," Ray said as he dried his eyes with a paw. "We've got so much to talk about."

"You've got to meet my friends first," Marlene said as she gestured to the nearby group of penguins, who had stood aside to give her and her family a moment to reunite together. "Come on over, guys."

The four then came waddling over and stood in a line next to Marlene.

"Mom, Dad, meet Kowalski," she said as she introduced the team's options man to her parents.

"Ah, the one behind the aircraft that nearly gave me a heart attack," Ray said as he stuck out his paw for Kowalski to shake. "And the one whose gut told me that my daughter was still alive. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh – er, feathers."

"Likewise, sir, less the part about the feathers," Kowalski replied. "And sorry about not letting you know that we were coming – the decision to not go back to New York was kind of a spur-of-the-moment change."

"No worries," Ray replied.

"I knew you sounded tall over the telephone," Lynne said as she approached Kowalski.

"So I've been told," Kowalski replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

"And this is Rico," Marlene said as she introduced the next penguin. "He doesn't talk much, though."

"Hi," Rico greeted as he waved a flipper and strolled over.

"Next, this is Private," Marlene continued. "He was the perennial cover animal of the Central Park Zoo brochure before he was beaten by a little mouse lemur last year."

"It's good to meet you," Private said as he waddled over to Ray and Lynne. "Hey, I'm kind of embarrassed to ask this, but we've had a rather long flight and I kind of need to–"

"Down the hall and to the left," Lynne answered.

"Thanks," Private replied, blushing, as he waddled quickly into the otter habitat.

And then there was just one penguin left to introduce. A tear came to Marlene's eye as she looked over at him.

"And this is Skipper," she said. "He believes in some far-out conspiracies and loves to barge into my habitat unannounced, but he is the most honorable and most dedicated penguin that you could ever know. He's afraid of getting shots from the zoo veterinarian, but would gladly take a bullet for those he loves. He beats me at chess all the time, but would never harm a hair on my head. He's stubborn and he's loyal. He's driven me crazy and he's saved my life. He's more than you could ever ask for."

Marlene then placed a paw behind Skipper's back and led him forward.

"Mom, Dad, this is Skipper," she said. "And he's my best friend."

* * *

And so ends the longest full-length fanfic I have written thus far. I hope you enjoyed it – it sure was a lot of fun to write. Truly Skipper and Marlene can get through anything if they rely on the bond they have between them.

Two fun facts: First, briefly mentioned by Skipper in the second chapter (and referred to again by Marlene in the third), the story of US Airways Flight 1549 is true. On January 15, 2009, pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger successfully landed an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River following engine-killing bird strikes. Second, it should be noted that the triangle formula stated by Skipper in the ninth chapter, which was also stated by Private in the "Paternal Egg-Stinct" episode and by the Scarecrow in _The Wizard of Oz_, is not actually mathematically correct.

Lastly, I would like to take a moment to thank my reviewers. Previously, this had only been a tradition on my long-term writing "projects," but I've now decided to extend doing this for any story I write that has chapters or segments published on more than one day. While I value all of my readers, I especially value those who take the time to comment on my work. As this relates to _East of Nowhere_, 15 individuals have so far submitted a total of 53 reviews through the ninth chapter. Listed by order of their first review, I thank the following: **Dark Fox's Shadow**, **EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD**, **AnnaConda1209**, **SkullDestroyer**, **Emperor King93**, **xDark-Winged-Angelx**, **Beastial Moon**, **jackandjill2**, **Toon92**, **Historian1912**, **ABSOLute Chimera**, **Kristen**, **lovingSkipper**, **Skilenefan3oh3**, and **POMfan44**.

-_GrandOldPenguin  
_Saturday, March 19, 2011  
6:31 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time


End file.
